A wild car chase in Queens ended with a man allegedly plowing his adult day care van into a boat parked in the Hawtree Basin in Hamilton Beach after being pursued by a driver he allegedly crashed into on the Belt Parkway Thursday morning, police and witnesses said.
The man, who police have not identified, allegedly sideswiped a Chevy Tahoe on the eastbound Belt, and, after allegedly running from the scene, was followed by the Tahoe’s driver, police said.
The driver of the Tahoe called the police to inform them he was following the man into Howard Beach, where the van driver allegedly reached about 80 miles per hour while navigating narrow side streets, witnesses said.
Apparently paying no heed to the yellow dead end signs on Russell Street, the driver allegedly tried to stop before hitting the water but instead smashed head on into a boat parked outside the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club just before 8 a.m., police and residents said.
“He was being chased and came down this block going 80 miles per hour,” said Phillip Lynch, commodore of the Howard Beach Motor Boat Club. “He ripped through the entire fence and wound up on the boat.”
Oscar Manzano was out for his routine morning jog when he saw the van fly by him.
“The front of his van was inside the boat, and his bumper was on the fence,” Manzano said. “Then he opens the door and lights a cigarette.”
Robert Gambardella, who lives in the neighborhood and is the fleet captain at the boat club, said after the crash the driver swam to the pier and looked like he was going to try to make another break for it.
“We were like, ‘you’re going nowhere,’ and then 10 cop cars showed up,” Gambardella said.
Police said they pulled the man from the water, after which witnesses said he began kissing the cops’ hands.
The man, who was driving a van belonging to the Queensboro Adult Day Care Center, was taken to Jamaica Hospital medical Center and is listed in stable condition, police said. No one else was injured in the accident, police said.
“There was nobody else in his van, thank God,” Manzano said.
Rick and Karen Wolfe, who live on Russell Street, said it was lucky he didn’t hit one of the neighborhood’s many children.
“You have all these kids going to the bus stop just before then,” Karen Wolfe said. “It could’ve been really bad.”
Rick Wolfe added that residents in the area have long advocated for a speed bump around 102nd and Russell streets, which he said could have prevented the driver from plowing into the water.
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