Man killed, 6 others injured in multi-vehicle crash in Overbrook Park
The crash on Haverford Avenue was so violent that it pushed the Honda underneath a Chrysler Pacifica van that was parked in front of it, causing a chain reaction that damaged a total of seven cars.
A 35-year-old man was killed and six other people — including a 5-year-old boy — were injured in a multiple-vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon in the Overbrook Park section of Philadelphia, police said.
The crash happened around 2 p.m. at Haverford Avenue and Rhoads Street, police said. A 2013 Ford Taurus was heading east on Haverford at high speed and struck a 2001 Honda S2000. The crash was so violent that it pushed the Honda underneath a Chrysler Pacifica van parked in front of it, causing a chain reaction that damaged seven cars. All but the Ford were parked, witnesses said.
The 35-year-old man, who had been sitting in the Honda, was pronounced dead at the scene by medics, police said. They did not immediately identify him. They were also looking for three people who left the scene before first responders arrived.
Police at the scene initially said the Ford and the Honda were both headed in the same direction before crashing. “Somehow they made contact and it caused a chain reaction,” said Capt. Robert McKeeven, who added that investigators were hoping surveillance video from nearby homes and businesses could help them determine exactly what happened.
But witnesses said the Ford was the only car that was moving and the others, including the Honda, were parked. They said the driver of the Ford got out of her car appearing dazed. They said she took a child strapped in a car seat out of the car and began to run, but after a short distance left the car seat on the sidewalk and ran away with the child in her arms, leaving behind a woman and a toddler, who were injured.
“It looked like she was scared when she jumped out with the baby. She was just holding the baby’s head and cradling it and limping,” said Vickie Fulwood, who works at a day care in the block and whose Volkswagen Atlas was totaled in the crash.
“She looked like a little young girl that really didn’t know how to drive too well,” Fulwood said. “She looked disoriented and scared.”
The crash forced the closure of Haverford Avenue in both directions near the accident scene for more than four hours. Onlookers gawked at the mangled cars, three on the sidewalk, as city paramedics collected and whisked away the injured and firefighters tried to free the man from the flattened Honda.
At least six others were injured. A 28-year-old woman, a 5-year-old boy, and a man whose age was not known each was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and are listed in stable condition, police said.
A 42-year-old man and a 62-year-old man were transported to Lankenau Medical Center and listed in stable condition, while a 61-year-old woman was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where her condition was not known, police said.