CBS New YorkOne person was killed Tuesday when a sport-utility vehicle caught fire on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens.
As 1010 WINS’ Al Jones reported, the ramp to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway from the Grand Central Parkway is often a minefield of potholes. But police said it was a piece of metal on the road that triggered the fireball.
The 2010 Toyota Highlander ran over the debris, which police believe pierced the gas tank.
The 26-year-old driver and 25-year-old passenger managed to escape, but Dale Tulloch, 50, of Yonkers, had been sleeping in the back seat at the time and was killed.
Witnesses said that it seemed like a bomb had gone off.
Following a loud explosion an orange fireball and heavy black smoke were captured on video via cell phone by Joe Wozniak as he ran from his Astoria home.
“It was a pretty loud sound and it was pretty nearby so you could almost feel the pressure of it,” Wozniak told CBS 2′s Tracee Carrasco.
As Wozniak filmed, witnesses wondered aloud when help would arrive.
“(I thought) maybe it was a bomb or something — who knows,” Wozniak said.
It remains unclear where the metal that caused the accident came from. The driver and the other surviving passenger were taken to New York Hospital of Queens in stable condition.
The accident and investigation forced traffic off the Grand Central Parkway, and choked traffic in Astoria, Queens for hours.