Video shows MTA bus colliding with vehicles, townhouse
NEW YORK - An MTA bus that crashed into a townhouse in Brooklyn on Monday is still wedged part of the way inside the crumbling facade two days later. Engineers are concerned the building's structural integrity is compromised and that moving the bus could cause it to collapse.
A video from a camera inside the bus appears to show the driver first crashing twice into a forklift of sorts hanging off the back of a parked truck, then accelerating across multiple lanes of traffic, crashing into another parked vehicle, and then driving the city bus straight into the side of the building on Lincoln Road and Bedford Avenue in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
"I'm very disturbed that the video got out," TWU Local 100 Vice President J.P. Patafio said.
The union demanded to know who leaked the video and argued the leak violated the union contract and the driver's right to privacy.
Days later and MTA bus remains stuck in Brooklyn brownstone
The MTA admitted the video didn't look good.
"The video is disturbing on many levels, raising questions about whether basic safety rules were followed," the MTA's Tim Minton said in a statement. "The incident remains under investigation and we will have more to say when that is complete."
More than a dozen people went to the hospital with minor injuries on Monday. The union said the driver was hurt in the crash and helped passengers off the bus.
"One video doesn't tell you what happened," Patafio said. "We're talking about a veteran who's driven hundreds of thousands of miles without incident."
An initial investigation turned up no evidence the bus was speeding or suffered some mechanical malfunction, according to the MTA.
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