by Yolanne Almanzar
A loud crunching sound filled the air of the brisk November morning. It is 10 a.m. On the corner of State St. and Flatbush Ave., a white Marquis ambulette crashed into a black Buick Regal pulling out of a parking space. Or did the Buick hit the ambulette?
George Brown, 72, is the super of a nearby building. He was standing outside when he heard the sound of metal colliding with metal. “You can tell who hit who,” he said to man standing next to him. “Just look at the bumper.”
Brown, however, declines to reveal the secret.
A 26-year-old man had been driving the Buick. He circled the accident scene and hugged his arms to his chest. On the back of his unzipped windbreaker was the logo of the Transportation Security Administration. A man in a tan Toyota Camry pulled up; it was his cousin, Rob. According to Rob, his cousin had left work and was driving his mom and sister home.
“His brother was just in an accident, too,” said Rob, pointing to some damage on the bumper of the Toyota. Rob and the brother had been on their way to Rob’s body shop in Staten Island.
The bumper on the driver’s side of the Buick hung off the car like a child’s loose tooth waiting to be pulled. Pedestrians gaped. Some stopped and asked what happened. Others did a quick double take as they walk by. Two men engaged in fierce discussion, in Spanish.
“It was that guy’s fault,” said the tall man in the hat.
“No way! It was the other guy’s fault,” said the man with the moustache.
An hour later, the police arrived.
“He wasn’t looking,” said the 26-year-old man to police officers.
Morris Campbell, 63, said he has been an ambulette driver for eight years. He said he had just picked up a man and was taking him to a clinic on Nevins St. when the Buick pulled up suddenly on his passenger side. Campbell said he did not have time to swerve.
“He saw me,” he said. “I wasn’t looking for him to be on my side.”
As the cop called the men over, he gave them a number they can call to get the accident report. No tickets were issued.
Campbell sighed as he walked back to his car.
“After the nice, long weekend, now this,” he said.
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