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Three people are dead after a car slammed into a food truck in Astoria, Queens.
It happened at 42nd Street near 19th Avenue just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Police say the driver of a Toyota Corolla was traveling northbound on 42nd Street and struck two men who were standing near a food truck.
Surveillance video shows the car speeding down the street and slamming into the truck. The Corolla then slammed into a Volvo sedan driven by another man.
The 84-year-old driver of the Corolla and a 70-year-old pedestrian were rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The 70-year-old has been identified as Santiago Baires, a customer from the tire shop who was getting a cup of coffee. The driver has not yet been identified.
The other pedestrian, identified as 41-year-old Joaquin Venancio, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Avelardo Venancio, the victim’s brother, said he and Joaquin worked together at Discount Tire Group in Astoria. Venancio said it was his brother’s turn to get breakfast from the food truck across the street.
“I just heard a loud noise,” he said. “When I ran over there, I saw him.”
Joaquin Venancio was from Mexico, and his brother said he worked hard to provide for his family, including a daughter and a son.
“He was always happy. He would make you happy. He would make happy any person in the world,” Venancio said. “It’s a very bad feeling because. It’s hard, it’s hard. Nobody deserves this type of end, you know?
“Maybe this time it was my brother. Maybe next time it could be anybody,” he added.
Giancarlos Caruso, the owner of the food truck, said it was the warnings ahead of the crash that made him instinctively step away, likely saving his life.
“I still have my life and I’m just grateful that something moved me out of the way,” Caruso said. “I heard the scream. I felt it in my back and I just stepped back one step and I literally, he must’ve grazed my leg. That’s how much I missed it by.”
Witness Jay Figueroa, who had just arrived at his job nearby, described what he saw and heard.
“Soon as I come back up, I heard the really loud crash and then I just heard somebody screaming,” Figueroa said. “Really, it was just blank. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think. My first time seeing a dead person right in front of me. There was really nothing to think. It was just a bunch of emotion.”
“When you see the lifeless bodies there, you feel almost helpless, like, what can you do?” witness George Giakoumas said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Allen Devlin joined the CBS News New York team in September 2024 and is excited to once again call New York City home.
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©2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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