EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn (WABC) — A man was injured after being hit by a car while standing on a curb in Brooklyn. Police say a 15-year-old was behind the wheel — too young to drive legally.
The crash happened at the corner of Pennsylvania and Hegeman Avenues in East New York just before 10 a.m. Sunday, leaving debris all over the street.
Video shows a black Honda Accord going the wrong way and then going airborne, slamming into a utility pole so quickly that the victim had no chance to move. The pole absorbed most of the impact.
The teen driver then got out of the car running, just as the police vehicles that had been looking for him arrive. The officers chased after the teen as the mangled car bursts into flames.
Police say they did find the driver, and that they are questioning him as a person of interest.
The 71-year-old victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Ali Ahmed, a worker at a nearby deli says he wasn't there at the time of the crash, but he and neighbors who saw the video of what happened in that split second are so glad it was not much worse.
"It was two guys standing there. One of them got hit, one of them got lucky. He moved back. Thank god the other one who got hit is alive right now," Ahmed said.
Police are still sorting out everything with the 15-year-old person of interest.
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Driving a car at 15 is illegal in the state of New York, and it is unclear who the vehicle belonged to. The NYPD has not said why officers were following the teen to begin with.

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