It happened around 10:30 a.m. at Jerome Avenue and West Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bedford Park section.
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The sole occupant of the vehicle, 22-year-old Danielle Cruz, sustained only a cut to her lip, believed to be from broken glass.
Amazingly, she was otherwise OK and able to walk away from the crash with the help of good Samaritans.
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Cruz is a Hunter College student who was driving to class at the time.
"It happened slow and fast at the same time, like I kind of felt like something was going to happen after I saw the pole move," she said. "The thing came down on my car, and it caved in the whole windshield, the whole top of my car...and the first thing it did was hit my head."
She saw the traffic light being ripped down and anticipated something was about to happen, and she said a firefighter told her that if she had stopped 3 inches forward, she'd be dead.
She was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital to be checked out and later returned home.
"It sounded like the World Trade Center," witness Ticey Williams said. "I was standing there, and all the sudden, I was looking up, and I saw the beam pop, and it was coming down, it was like a movie. I was like, there's no way this could be happening. So then when I heard the crash from the wall where it hit, and then the car, bam, I just knew someone was dead. But thank God the lady was alright. We snatched the door open and got her out."
Cruz said she's very appreciative of the good Samaritans who came to her aid and opened the door, because she was unable to.
It appeared the boom broke off while lifting materials. The truck did not tip over.
"They were taking a payload up to the seventh or eighth floor above me when the crane boom collapsed across the road, fell on the car right behind me and injured one passenger in that car," FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John Sarrocco said. "She has, believe it or not, minor injuries. She is very lucky. She was in the car behind me, and the way the boom crossed the car, just missed her. She's going to be fine."
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The building under construction appears to be undamaged.
Inspectors with the Department of Buildings responded to the scene, and the FDNY evacuated approximately 29 workers from the site out of an abundance of caution.
A partial stop work order was issued after the inspection uncovered several site safety violations. Officials identified them as:
--Failure to have the hoist (construction elevator) in a state of readiness.
--Failure to obtain electrical permits for temporary lighting and a standpipe compressor used at the site.
The partial stop work order prevents all materials deliveries at the location, and all work above 75 feet.
All lanes of Bedford Park Boulevard were closed from Grand Concourse to Jerome Avenue.
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Sarrocco said the cause of the failure is under investigation.
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