Crash flips car on Riverdale Avenue, victims say no serious injuries

Just before 3 p.m. Wednesday, one vehicle was flipped upside down after colliding with another at the intersection of West 256th Street and Riverdale Avenue. 

Bystanders immediately rushed to aid the driver of the overturned blue Honda CRV, helping him climb out of the car, as he squeezed between airbags and broken glass. Emergency personnel soon arrived, attending to the victims and sweeping the shattered glass.

Agyei Hammond, 36, was traveling south along Riverdale Avenue in the right lane when he said he side swiped a vehicle in the lefthand turn lane. Hammond said his CRV struck the wheel of the other car, flipping him upside down. He added he was adhering to the speed limit. 

Pieces of the CRV were strewn throughout the intersection.

The car Hammond said he collided with was a silver Subaru Forester. The driver of the Subaru, Roy Esnard, was traveling with an 83-year-old passenger when the crash occurred.  Esnard said he was also traveling southbound along Riverdale Avenue, sitting stationary in the left turn lane and waiting for the crossing guard to give him the go-ahead when Hammond's car struck his. 

Esnard said it seemed that Hammond was trying to go around his Subaru on the righthand side when he clipped the back right corner of the vehicle. The Subaru's tire on that corner was popped, and the rear tail light was broken.  Its paint was scraped from the impact, and one of its metal panels was popped out of place. 

Hammond, a resident of the Marble Hill area, said he was feeling okay at the scene of the crash, and declined attention from EMS.  

Esnard and his passenger both declined EMS attention as well, though the passenger, who declined to share his name, said he felt "hazy" after the incident.