Pedestrian struck by car on Johnson Ave

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A man was severely injured when a car struck him on Johnson Avenue near W. 238th Street on Feb. 15, police have confirmed.

The man was lying on the street as police and ambulances rushed to the scene of the afternoon incident, officers on scene said. He suffered head trauma and was taken to a hospital, police have confirmed.

The pavement was stained with what looked like blood, which emergency teams washed off, local resident Jim Grossman, who watched the aftermath of the incident unfold, told The Press.

“When they put him in the ambulance, there was, what looked like blood on the ground, which they washed off with a portable hose they had,” he said. “I didn’t see any blood, and I don’t know what it could’ve been but there was something on the ground under him on the ground.  Maybe when you get hit you move your bowels. It wasn’t red, but it was dark and I can’t say for sure what it was.”

The victim was in stable condition, and even talking to police officers and emergency medical personnel as he was placed in an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police confirmed.

Grossman said the man was elderly and was using a cane. Grossman said he arrived on scene about 10 minutes before the victim was loaded into an ambulance.  

There were about 20 people by that time standing on the side looking at what was going on,” he said. “There were one or two fire trucks, two EMS ambulances and three police cars.”

Police declined to disclose details of the incident or the ongoing investigation. Grossman said he had not seen the car that struck the victim, and when he asked police on scene, he was told that the driver was not there.

Grossman, though, said he was not surprised to see a traffic accident at the intersection of W. 238th Street and Johnson Avenue.  He said drivers often ignore stop signs and speed onto the residential street from the Henry Hudson Parkway.

“Cars getting off the Henry Hudson [Parkway], they have to make like a U-Turn to get onto Johnson and there’s not even a yield sign,” he said. “It’s just a very bad intersection and my impression these days is that a lot of people don’t obey the stop sign. I see people not stopping at all, even when they see people on the sidewalk.”

He added that illegal parking, along with the sheer volume of cars coming and going on Johnson Avenue decreases drivers’ ability to see oncoming traffic.

“Sometimes, cars park near the corner illegally and they can’t see the cars coming.  I’m surprised there aren’t even more car accidents over there,” Grossman said.

He suggested that police focus less on enforcing speeding violations and spend more time trying to catch drivers who run or roll through stop signs.

“I think what should happen is the police, if they have enough people, should go to some of these stop signs they are running and start handing out tickets,” Grossman said.

Correction: An earlier vesrion of this stopry incorrectly stated that the accident occurred on Feb. 14.  In fact it occured on Wednesday Feb. 15. 

pedestrian, car accident, Jim Grossman, NYPD, 50th precinct, Anthony Capote