By Suzanne Ma and Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporters/Producers
CHINATOWN — Several people were injured Wednesday afternoon when a cement truck driver leaving the Manhattan Bridge lost control and plowed into six cars before mounting the sidewalk, authorities and witnesses said.
Eight people were injured, including two who were in serious condition, in the crash, which ocurred at the corner of the Bowery and Canal Street at about 12:50 p.m., a fire department spokesman said.
The most seriously injured were taken to Bellevue Hopsital.
"I was so scared," said a witness, who asked to be identified by her first name Pansy. "I had just walked up the sidewalk, coming to work. And, boom, that truck slammed into the cars.”
She said it looked as though the truck's brakes had malfunctioned.
The truck, operated by a company called Concrete Quick, smashed into the storefront windows of H.t. Wireless at 145 Canal St.
John Chan, the owner of H.t. Wireless said he and five other employees were in the store when the cement truck shattered his window.
"I saw smoke in tha air and oil spilling on the ground," Chan said. "Luckily, [the truck] didn't explode."
Chan and other witnesses said neighborhood residents have pleaded with the city to install signs and traffic lights to slow traffic at the base of the Manhattan Bridge.
Too many speeding motorists come off the bridge and have a hard time negotiating narrow streets, they said.
"This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. We’ve had many accidents, many people have been hurt," said one resident who did not witness the accident and only identified himself as Mr. So.
He stood with more than a dozen onlookers outside the Mahayana Buddhist Temple, steps away from the crash scene.
"When people come off the bridge they see a sign, 'Welcome to Manhattan,' but ... we’re welcoming them to many horrible accidents," he said. "So what kind of welcome is that?"
In June, 2008, a dump truck's brakes failed as it left the Manhattan Bridge and it hit several cars and a tour bus. Six people were injured and a 57-year-old woman suffered a heart attack and later died after a sign from a fallen light pole struck her.
The temple is the city's largest Buddhist temple and So worried aloud about the tourists, schoolchildren and seniors that walk up Canal Street to visit the site every day.
Shortly before 3 p.m., District 1 City Council member Margaret Chin, who represents Chinatown, was walking on the Bowery when she noticed the police cars and police tape marking the crash scene.
When DNAinfo told Chin what had happened, she was visibly upset.
"This is not the first time," she said, echoing the call for the city to look into measures to help slow down traffic coming off the Manhattan Bridge.
"I'm going to talk with the Department of Transportation. Pedestrian safety is a very, very important issue."
