A lucky school-bus driver cheated a fiery death yesterday when he was clipped by an SUV at a busy Brooklyn intersection and slammed into a day-care center, authorities said.
Fortuneately, there were no children on board during the 8:20 a.m. crash on Rockaway Parkway at Avenue N in Canarsie, and the four youngsters and three adults inside the basement day-care center at 1918 Rockaway Parkway escaped the solid brick building unharmed.
“The back of the bus was like a ball of fire,” said Jenni Lene, who runs Little Andy’s Daycare with her mother. “It was crazy, the smoke was all in the house!”
Firefighters at first feared schoolchildren were trapped inside the burning bus.
“When you see a school bus at 8 in the morning fully consumed in fire, what do you think?” Fire Chief John McKeon of Battalion 58 said about witnesses’ erroneous reports.
The unidentified bus driver, who witnesses said was knocked cold by the impact of the crash, was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
The unidentified man driving the SUV, a 2005 GMC Yukon Denali with Virginia plates, and his female passenger were taken to Kings County Medical Center, where they were in stable condition.
Authorities said the bus was traveling north on Rockaway Parkway when it was hit by the SUV heading westbound on Avenue N. Cops said there were no charges.
The bus driver’s foot apparently hit the accelerator harder, and he crashed through a low stone wall before hitting the corner of the two-family house and coming to a stop.
Firefighters used ladders to evacuate one man from the upper floor of 1918 Rockaway Parkway and another from the home next door.