Bystanders Bloodied After Car Jumps Curb in East Village View Full Caption

EAST VILLAGE — An out-of-control drunken and drugged-up driver jumped a curb on Second Avenue, mowed down a string of pedestrians and hit a man on a Citi Bike before finally grinding to a halt a block later, police said.



Shaun Martin, 32, of Bayside, Queens, was driving his rented 2013 Nissan Altima southbound on Second Avenue when he mounted the western curb near Fifth Street, taking out a street sign, a fire hydrant and a tree, before sending a 300-pound Muni Meter flying, police said.

Martin, who has prior arrests for drunk driving and cocaine possession, then plowed into three bodega workers, aged 54, 62 and 39, in front of the East Village Grocery at 69 Second Ave., cops and witnesses said.

He kept going, rear-ending a 37-year-old Citi Bike rider, before his vehicle finally came to a stop near Fourth Street, police said.

Martin refused a Breathalyzer test at the scene. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where police found a marijuana stash in his sock, and has been charged with driving while intoxicated, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A woman in the passenger seat was hospitalized with minor injuries, Browne said.

"We're shocked. We can't even comprehend what happened," said Mangesh Shah, 32, whose family owns East Village Grocery. He said his three workers were rushed to the hospital, and two of them were taken into surgery. The third worker was expected to be released with scratches and bruises, he said.

One of the men who works with the bouquets outside the store was lying face-down on the ground after the crash, witnesses said. Flowers were scattered across the sidewalk.

"His legs were one way, and his feet were another," said Dan Bergal, 31, who lives near the bodega and was wakened by a loud noise below his window. The worker had blood near his head, he said.

Bergal said the man, who is "always willing to help" with picking out flower colors, was not moving and seemed to have broken limbs, Bergal said.

"I saw him plowing through the trees," said Diana Kirk, 42, who was sitting on her fire escape on East 4th Street and Second Avenue when she saw the white sedan "swerving."

"He flew down the sidewalk," she added, saying she saw the driver take out the Citi Bike rider. "There was blood everywhere. I saw his legs all bloodied."

Though the cyclist got up, he immediately collapsed as if "in shock," she said.

The bicyclist was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

Alan Stone, 49, a worker at a nearby deli, saw debris flying, then ran toward the accident and spoke to a woman in the passenger seat of the Nissan.



“Her face was all bloody,” Stone said. “She didn’t want to go to the hospital."

Martin escaped the wreck with just some cuts, Browne said.

Susan Macinick, 51, a neighbor of Martin's who watched him grow up, said he was a nice man.

"He was always a great kid to me — always looked out for me and was very protective of his family," Macinick said.