‘Not even two minutes’: Driver says quick stop may have saved their life in violent Bronx crash
Video footage shows an SUV on top of a minivan on Union Avenue and Boston Road.
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Two Bronx drivers say they are counting their blessings after narrowly avoiding what could have been a devastating crash Monday morning in Morrisania.
The crash happened around 11:30 a.m. near the intersection of Boston Road and Union Avenue, where surveillance video captured a car swerving into oncoming traffic before slamming into a parked truck and crashing into a Toyota Highlander.
The impact was so strong that the Highlander was launched onto another parked vehicle, shattering the windshield.
Essa Jabbie said he had parked his Toyota Highlander moments earlier and stepped inside a nearby grocery store when he suddenly heard a loud crash outside.
“I hear the noise - boom! So I thought, 'oh, an accident happened,' and I see my car on top of another car over there,” Jabbie said.
Jabbie said he missed being inside the vehicle by less than two minutes.
“Two minutes! Not even two minutes, and accident happens,” he said. “I have a family, I have two girls and this is my wife, so thank God I’m not in my car.”
While grateful to have avoided being inside during the crash, Jabbie said the accident has left him facing another major challenge - losing the vehicle he relies on to support his family as an Uber driver.
“I have a family, I have to pay my rent and bills,” he said.
Another driver whose vehicle was damaged, Tyreq Chiles, said he had also stepped away from his car just moments before the impact.
Chiles said he had been cleaning out his work vehicle before deciding to leave earlier than planned.
“It was messy. I did cut some corners, so if I did the full process, who knows how long I would have been in there,” Chiles said.
He says he is thankful that his decision may have saved his life.
“I’m super grateful. I’m only 26, I still have so much to live for. Literally anything could have happened. You saw how smashed in that car was. Imagine if I was sitting right there,” Chiles said.
Justice Villaba, who works next door to where the crash happened, said he was among the first people to rush outside after hearing the collision and found the driver trapped inside the vehicle.
“I saw he was trapped inside, so I wanted to help him out. I saw oil. I was scared it was going to catch fire,” Villaba said. “He was disoriented and wasn’t coherent during the first couple seconds.”
Villaba said dangerous driving in the area is something he regularly witnesses and believes the outcome could have been even worse.
“Thank goodness we weren’t out there,” Villaba said. “Usually, we put things in and out this truck. My son’s school is up the block, and they always have literally a class of 20 kids coming up this block, so thank God he ain’t hit nobody.”
The driver involved in the crash was taken to a local hospital. Witnesses at the scene told News 12 the driver was conscious and able to walk and talk after the collision.
“He had to have been going well over 25 and on the other side of the street,” Villaba said.
Police have not yet released additional information about what may have caused the crash.
