Crime & Safety

Barnard Student 'In Shock' After Dodging UWS Trader Joe's Crash

A 21-year-old leapt out of the way moments before an SUV smashed through the glass doors of a Trader Joe's, her dismayed mom told Patch.

A car backed into the Upper West Side Trader Joe's at  onFeb. 10.
A car backed into the Upper West Side Trader Joe's at onFeb. 10. (Gus Saltonstall)

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Dasa Obereigner's 21-year-old daughter leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the large SUV that jumped the pavement and smashed through the glass doors of an Upper West Side Trader Joe's Thursday afternoon, the distraught mother told Patch.

"She was in shock," Obereigner said of her daughter, whom she declined to name. "Her bike helmet was crushed."

The 21-year old and another woman were both hurt when a 75-year-old woman driving a white SUV backed into the Trader Joe's at West 93rd Street and Columbus Avenue a little after 1 p.m., police and Obereigner told Patch.

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Obereigner's daughter had been walking out of the store to her bike when the car came rushing toward her and hit her in the right hip and arm, the mom said.

The college student's backpack got wedged into the bumper of the car in the process.

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Despite feeling discomfort in her body, the 21-year-old grabbed her backpack out of the car and went to help the other injured woman who was "laying on the ground screaming."

Medics arrived at the scene but let Obereigner's daughter leave, to her mother's dismay.

"They let her go without examining her," Obereigner told Patch, noting she later went to an urgent care center as the pain was beginning to intensify.

The woman on the ground was taken into medical care, according to police.

Gus Saltonstall/Patch

The driver may have been trying to parallel park and then hit the gas instead of the brake, according to multiple elected officials, including Council Member Gale Brewer and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

This crash occurred one day after a 10-year-old was killed and a 5-year-old boy critically injured when cars jumped the pavements of New York City streets.

The sidewalk in front of the store was blocked off as of 2:45 p.m. Thursday as police directed people onto the street around the crash.

A group of 20 to 30 people lined the nearby street corner and the sidewalk across the block to take photos.

Brewer sent a team to the crash site and was in contact with law enforcement, she said in a Tweet.

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