UPPER EAST SIDE — The driver of an SUV who jumped a curb and injured two women Thursday was on drugs at the time of the crash and had been charged in May for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, authorities said.
Huey Bui, 40, of The Bronx, drove his Chevy Suburban onto the sidewalk at 63rd Street and Madison Avenue around 4:47 p.m. and slammed into the side of a luxury watch store, hitting a 41-year-old woman and knocking over a mailbox before coming to a stop, police and witnesses said.
Bui appeared to be unconscious, and an elderly woman was removed from the back of the vehicle, witnesses and officials said. She was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital with minor injuries, police said.
Police did not know the relationship between Bui and the woman in the back of his car.
The female pedestrian he struck was laying on the sidewalk next to the Vacheron Constantin store, video of the aftermath showed.
Both Bui and the female pedestrian were taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical but stable condition, police said.
The pedestrian remained in critical condition as of Friday.
Bui was charged with vehicular assault for striking the women and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, though police did not say which drugs he had taken.
He had not been arraigned as of Friday afternoon, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Bui was previously arrested in May after getting pulled over in front of 350 W. 14th St. near Hudson Street with a blood alcohol content of .07, court records show. He also had his license suspended because he failed to insure to his car, authorities said.
He was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, unlicensed driving, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol.
He was released without bail for that case, court records show.
His attorney did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday.
