Jul 15, 2009 12:58 pm US/Eastern
Devastating Car Crash Leaves Two Dead In The Bronx
BRONX (CBS) ―
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A livery cab driver and an SUV collided in a devastating accident in the Bronx early Wednesday morning. Two people are dead as a result of the fiery crash.
CBS
A livery cab and an SUV collided at the Laconia Avenue and Waring Avenue intersection in the Bronx just before midnight on Tuesday. Two were killed and a third person remains in critical condition.
It took the NYPD 30 minutes to find one victim's body after the accident's impact hurled her far away from the scene.
The woman was thrown over a six-foot high fence, and it was not until officials checked security tapes from the nearby Pelham Parkway Nursing Home that they realized the she was missing.
Names of the two people killed have not been released because police have not finished notifying their families.
Locals Lenny Salati and Anthony Maietta heard the loud crash and saw the cab on fire. Both then immediately ran to the scene, hoping to help.
"We tried to put the fire out with the fire extinguisher but the door was jammed and we couldn't get it open," Maietta said. "My friend was on the other side, we cut the seat belt."
Salati burned his hand trying to save the driver, who was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital.
"We were trying to get the guy out of the car and somehow the girl got thrown over the fence," Salati said. "She landed, she hit the concrete and she was dead… No one knew she was there."
A small memorial was held at the livery cab company where the driver worked.
Another local resident, Peter Nizzari, claimed street racing on Laconia Avenue was to blame for the two deaths.
"We heard cars going very fast up and down the block," Nizzari said. "Then three minutes later we heard the crash. Boom! Unfortunately a tragedy had to happen. Two innocent lives were taken. It's horrific."
Nizzari and others are calling for speed bumps on Laconia in an attempt to slow cars down.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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