Two vehicles collided over the weekend at the intersection of Brooklyn Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, just steps from 770 Eastern Parkway, the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The crash involved a red van and a black SUV in an area known for heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic from Hasidic residents and yeshiva students.
The impact caused extensive damage to both vehicles. The SUV's front bumper was completely destroyed, while the red van's front wheel was torn off and the driver's door left hanging open, nearly ripped from its hinges.
Emergency services arrived within minutes of the collision. Volunteers from the local Hatzalah ambulance service, working alongside EMS medical teams, set up life-saving equipment at the street corner and began administering first aid to two people who were injured in the accident. Police and fire department personnel closed off the area, redirected traffic, and secured the scene as a large crowd of passersby and neighborhood residents gathered.
The patients were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and further evaluation. One of those hurt was a yeshiva student studying in "the Kvutza" at 770, a program consisting primarily of graduates of Chabad yeshivas in Israel who come to New York for a year of study at the movement's central yeshiva. Thankfully, the student's condition was classified as minor and he did not suffer serious injuries.
The incident comes as thousands of yeshiva students and staff return to Crown Heights ahead of the new academic year and the month of Tishrei, the Jewish month containing the High Holidays, which brings heavy traffic congestion to the neighborhood's streets. Emergency officials and community leaders are reminding drivers and pedestrians to exercise heightened awareness and caution on the roads.
