A crowd showed superhuman strength when they saved a man trapped in his overturned car this weekend, only for them all to make a startling discovery after the heroic rescue.
A minivan was speeding through a Brooklyn neighborhood Saturday before crashing head-on into two parked vehicles and flipping over.
Surveillance footage from a home on Howard and Blake avenues in Brownsville showed the minivan first slamming into a black Jeep and maroon pickup truck, which caused it to flip over one time onto the driver’s side.
The driver, who was later identified by police as Olubunmi Awoluyi, 61, was trapped inside and at serious risk of being crushed, according to witnesses.
Residents trickled out of their homes to see what the commotion was. It was impossible to ignore, with one eyewitness telling ABC 7 the crash ‘sounded like a bomb exploded. I mean, it was really, really loud.’
Eudes James, who owns both the Jeep and the truck that were hit, led a group of good Samaritans to help overturn the minivan.
Roughly a dozen men were able to push the wrecked car back upright and save the driver.
‘[The driver] was bleeding out of his mouth. There was blood on the road. It was kind of scary watching somebody being pinned and being crushed,’ James told CBS.
Cops and firefighters eventually converged on the scene and made a discovery that put the shocking events into focus.
They discovered two bottles of alcohol on the scene. There was a bottle of Hennessey seen on the pavement and another bottle still inside the minivan that was being driven by Awoluyi.
‘When the firefighter opened the door on the scene, that’s when the liquor bottle fell out,’ witness Shanique Fox said.
Police later explained that prior to Awoluyi crashing, he had been driving drunk down Rockaway Parkway, a long, straight road that cuts through Brownsville and Canarsie.
While rocketing down this road, he hit two other vehicles, according to police. He then allegedly made a U-turn and struck a 26-year-old woman and a 3-year-old girl.
The woman is the toddler’s mother and was pushing her in a stroller when they were both hit.
Police said the girl had minor injuries, while the woman was unconscious and unresponsive. Both were taken to a local hospital and are expected to make full recoveries.
Delivery driver Danny Square was at both scenes. He first witnessed Awoluyi allegedly strike the two pedestrians, which convinced Square he had to follow the driver.
‘I don’t know where he was going, he tried to hit someone and flee so I had to chase him,’ Square told NBC 4 New York.
The same home surveillance camera that recorded the final crash site also captured Square pulling up on his bike. Square was part of the makeshift crew of rescuers that flipped the minivan back onto its wheels.
Square claimed there were three open Hennessy bottles inside the minivan.
Awoluyi was charged with a DWI, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, police said.