ASTORIA, QUEENS — A police car was racing down 21st Street with sirens blaring Friday morning when the driver slammed into another car and caused it to flip over, trapping a woman and two children inside, according to two witnesses.

EMS rushed three people to the hospital with seemingly minor injuries, a Fire Department spokesperson said. Surjit Singh, who works at a gas station at 21st Street and 30th Drive, said he heard sirens and then a large boom. The police car had T-boned the other car right in the middle of the intersection and pushed it over, he recalled.

In the backseat of the overturned car, he saw two young children trying to escape, so he ran over and helped pry them loose. (Keep up with news in Astoria and Long Island City by subscribing to Astoria-Long Island City Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)



"What can I do?" Singh said. "I try to do my best." Astoria resident Kamil Sharif was driving his son to school just before 8 a.m. when he saw the crash play out at the corner of 21st Street and 30th Drive.

"I heard sirens, and then all of a sudden it stopped," he told Patch.

Sharif said he sees lots of crashes along 21st Street in Astoria, a busy north-south thoroughfare: "This stretch, there's always stuff happening."