Pedestrian pinned when out-of-control truck careens into Queens fruit stand

QUEENS, N.Y. (WABC) -- A Queens grocery store is now boarded up after a crash involving a truck and a full school bus Friday that left more than 30 people hurt.

The truck went out of control and crashed into the fruit stand after it was hit by the bus, pinning a customer in the wreck.

The 34-year old woman was extricated and taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, but her condition is improving and she is expected to survive.

The vehicles collided like billiard balls in the middle of Hillside Avenue, a rented box truck and a bus with nearly two dozen young children aboard.

"The first thing in my mind was if any of the kids were hurt," said Joseph Machicote, an eyewitness.

The crash sent the rental truck careening into a corner grocery. Both the driver and a woman inside the store were trapped. Cynthia Castro ran to the victims and remembers what she said, to reassure them.

"Everything's going to be fine, it will be okay," Castro said. "And the guy, the driver, I waited to see and they brought him out and he looked fine. (What was that scene like?) It was bad, really bad."

The most seriously injured was a pedestrian who was outside New Giant Farms on Hillside Avenue in Queens Village when she was struck and pinned between the truck and the fruit case.

The drivers of the truck, a 71-year-old man, and the bus, a 57-year-old man, were also hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, as was the driver of another car that was also involved in the crash.

None of the 23 children were seriously injured, but all were taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center for observation and evaluation.

What caused the crash was not immediately clear, but NYPD Accident Reconstruction Teams spent hours at the scene taking measurements and interviewing eyewitnesses.

Authorities credited firefighters from Engine Company 301 and Ladder 150 for rescuing the victims who were trapped, amid concerns that the storefront could collapse on them.

"The toughest part was coming in and assessing who was the most seriously injured and getting them out as soon as possible and getting them into the ambulance so they could be properly treated," said Dep. Chief Mark Ferran, FDNY.

The store has a vacate order while the structure is stabilized. As cleanup crews cut plywood to board up the corner grocery store in Queens Village late Friday night, residents said that something needs to be done about this dangerous intersection. This is not the first time there has been a bad accident, but sadly this time people were hurt, including children.

"There's no protection here. They need to put up a camera," a neighbor said.