One person was critically hurt and nine others were also injured on Monday when a box truck hit a van parked near Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan and pushed it onto the sidewalk, the police said.
The chain-reaction crash, in one of the most pedestrian-heavy sections of New York City, unfolded at about 4 p.m., according to the police. The truck was traveling north on Eighth Avenue when it hit the van, which was unoccupied, on the east side of the avenue between West 29th and West 30th Streets, the police said.
The force of the crash knocked the van onto the sidewalk and into a crowd of people, eight of whom were hurt as a result, the police said. Two people in the truck were also hurt in the crash, the police said.
The injured were taken to Bellevue Hospital, the police said. Besides the one in critical condition, the victims were described as stable, with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The police did not identify those who were hurt or provide additional details about their injuries. The driver, who was not named, stayed at the scene of the crash, the police said. No criminality was suspected, and the investigation was continuing.
Penn Station, which serves NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuter trains as well as Amtrak, and is connected to several subway lines, is the busiest transit hub in the United States. Some 650,000 people pass through the station each day, and sidewalks on the blocks that surround it are often thick with pedestrians, especially during rush hour.
On a nearby stretch of Seventh Avenue, between West 32nd Street and West 33rd Street, more than 16,000 people might typically be crossing during a weekday evening rush hour, between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., city transportation data shows.
Madison Square Garden, the arena that sits atop the station, also draws large crowds, and hockey fans were expected to begin arriving on Monday evening, not long after the crash occurred, to see the New York Rangers host the Minnesota Wild.
Winnie Hu contributed reporting.
Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk.
The post 10 Hurt, One Critically, After Truck Hits Van Parked Near Penn Station appeared first on New York Times.
