Oliver Siodmak's Rants & Raves

In a moment your life can change. In a moment, your world can be lost.

I had taken Chestnut into the grass next to the 72nd Street Dog Run for his last walk very late Saturday night when I heard a horrific sound of multiple cars crashing into one another on the West Side Highway above me. There was another women with her Black Scottie just leaving the same fenced in area we were playing in as the accident occurred. Since the Dog Run is located along side the 72nd street highway entrance we frequently hear breaks squeak and the occasional crash but this was different. This was much, much worse. It was immediately clear that multiple cars were involved in the accident and that from the sound the accident occurred on the south-bound side. Not the usual North-bound side. As soon as the accident occurred I saw the owner of the Scottie starting to run down the hill towards the 72nd street tunnel that passes under the highway with her dog.

I looked down to see Chestnut picked this exact moment to poop so I bent over to clean things up when I heard her screams for help. I immediately started running towards the exit in the fence. I put Chestnut back on his leash and started running down the hill after her through the tunnel. When I exited the tunnel on the other side, I saw that a car involved in the accident had flipped off the highway and fallen 35 or more feet onto the descending park ramp below. The women was crying and screaming that there was someone in the car but that she couldn’t get them out. I handed her Chestnut’s leash and immediately went around to the passenger side of the car to see if I could open the door. The car appeared to have flipped over the cement barrier of the West Side Highway (9a) South and dropped the 30 feet to the ground landing on the driver’s side close to the roof. The driver’s side roof was now partially crushed and facing down the slope of the hill. When I got to the passenger side door neither door would open, the glass was still intact and you could hear the car’s radio playing inside. I could also smell gasoline and car oil. Looking inside the car I could see that the airbags had deployed but since I did not have a flashlight and the lighting was poor I could not clearly see the driver. It did not appear that there was a person sitting on the passenger side of the car or the back seat. The car was upside down and there items belonging to the occupants lying all over the inside of the car. The car trunk had popped open and its contents, including a suitcase lay on the ramp next to the car. The entire plastic fender from the car was broken off and laid a few feet down the hill. I made several additional attempts to open the door but I could not open it. It looked as if the car roof was holding the door in place. It did not occur to me at the time that the car doors might still be locked. Rather than smashing the window myself I immediately dialed 911 on my cell phone and after nearly 20 rings the operator picked up. I began relaying to her that a car had flipped off the highway into Riverside park and that we needed an ambulance immediately. She then stopped me to say that I had dialed 911 in NJ. I told her I did not and she informed me that since I was calling from a cell phone I might be connecting to the cellular network through cell tower in NJ and that she would have to connect me. As I waited we began to hear sirens coming from multiple directions and I began calling up to the people on the highway who were looking down at the wrecked car and I asking them to let the Police know that they needed to send someone into the park at 72nd street entrance to help the trapped person in the car.

Soon after the police and fireman arrived on the highway. I called up to them and let them know that at least 1 person was trapped in the car. I also mentioned that they needed to enter the park to get to the injured person. I heard one fireman say that another vehicle was on its way through the park but that he did not want to wait. He and another fireman immediately repelled down the wall and began trying to help the individual in the car. I backed away from the car to let them do their job. Within 7 to 12 minutes of the car accident occurring their were over 20 police and fireman on the scene helping people on both the highway and in the park below.

As I stood there more and more people began to crown around me. Some of them were out walking their dog but others I overheard say that they heard the accident from their apartment window and came down to see what they could do. As we stood their the firemen struggled to get the woman out of the car. Since he was pinned, they used a device that both raised the car body and held the car roof to the ground creating an opening for them to work. The police began asking the onlookers to please leave so I left just as they removed the man from the car. I walked back through the 72nd street tunnel just as a Fire Truck entered from the other end. I closed my eyes and prayed that through some miracle the man was alive and that he would recover. I continue to hope when I open tomorrow’s newspaper it reads, “Man survives horrific car crash on West Side Highway”. As I left the park, a white van jumped the curb in front of Elanor Roosevelt’s statue, stopped and a man with a broadcast camera hopped out. He appeared to be a freelancer and I thought to myself, if he had arrived on the scene before the police, would have helped me open the car door, or stood their filming my failed attempt.

My dog is now sleeping with his head down in his bed. I can tell that he is still upset by this event as am I. While I am not a very religious man I stop to pray and hope.

>>> Update: Monday, April 16th, 2007

You can now read the NY Times reported the story in the Metro Section. They reported that Gretchen Patterson, 48, of Brooklyn died from injuries she sustained after Joseph W. Harris, 29, of Harlem, while intoxicated hit her car causing it to land on two cars and then fall over the barrier wall into Riverside Park. He has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.

There is also a brief write up appearing in AMNY.com recounting the event.