A gas station argument might have led to a hit-and-run collision that left 22 people injured at a restaurant in New York City. On Monday night, just before 9 p.m., an Uber driver crashed his Toyota Rav4 into the Inwood Bar & Grill near the intersection of Broadway and West 204th Street. The driver and his crossover SUV were helped onto the sideway. The Rav4 was struck by another car from behind on Broadway, hopped the curb and crashed into the restaurant’s front window.
Flying glass caused most of the injuries in the crash. Nineteen people were transported to local hospitals, and the remaining three injured restaurant-goers refused medical attention. WABC reported that the most severely-injured victim was a ten-year-old girl. She was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital with a possible broken leg. The 31-year-old Uber driver was also treated for minor injuries at the same hospital.
The New York Police Department believes that an argument at a gas station next to the restaurant led to the crash. Detectives believe that, after a dispute, a white Audi sedan peeled out of the station and plowed into the back of the Toyota Rav4. The Audi’s driver fled the scene and is still being sought by the NYPD. The investigation is still ongoing.
This hit-and-run is the highest-profile incident in a string of hit-and-run crashes across the city in the past month. Two weeks ago, PIX11 reported that two men in Queens were struck in completely separate crashes five minutes apart. Both men were hospitalized in critical condition.