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Seizure Causes Driver to Crash Van into Morningside Heights Fence

By Nicole Bode | September 3, 2010 11:02am

By Nicole Bode

DNAinfo Senior Editor

MANHATTAN — A minivan driver who suffered an apparent seizure behind the wheel lost control of his van in Morningside Heights Friday, smashing into two cars before slamming against a metal fence, police said.

The driver, who was not identified, was driving on Amsterdam Avenue near 98th Street shortly before 8:30 a.m. when he lost control of his silver van and crashed into two other moving cars, police and witnesses said.

A pedestrian near the scene narrowly missed being hit, police said.

The van then jumped a curb and smashed into the fence at the city's public housing complex the Douglass Houses on Amsterdam at West 100th Street, police said.

Emergency crews had to extricate the driver and his passenger from the silver van, and both were taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt hospital in stable condition, police and the fire department said. There were no other reported injuries.

Police said the crash appeared to be an accident and they did not expect to charge anyone.

The sidewalk was a mess of smashed glass and medical debris Friday morning. Piles of plaster and construction materials lay on the ground behind the silver van's back doors, and auto glass and medical gloves were scattered on the concrete.

A white BMW with Pennsylvania license plates was wedged up against the driver's side of the van against the fence, and a smashed silver SUV with Florida plates was parked on West 100th Street west of Amsterdam Avenue.