A crash that sent a Binghamton University student to the hospital Friday occured when the driver plowed into another car, and then into the South Wall of the Glenn G. Bartle Library.
In statements made to BU police, Anthony Pendergrass said that he was backing his red Range Rover out of a metered parking spot at around at 2:39 p.m. “when the car just went backwards,” colliding with a blue Ford Escort and pushing it down the embankment until the Range Rover crashed into the library basement’s wall.
Benjamin Krakauer, executive director of Harpur’s Ferry, the campus ambulance service that responded to the accident, said that Pendergrass “was trapped in the car” and had to be extricated by the Vestal Fire Department.
According to Captain Donald A. Chier of BU’s State University Police, Pendergrass “appeared to be alert, but stabilized in case of injuries.”
A witness at the scene told police that he had seen the Range Rover “begin to go in reverse from its parked location in the metered lot and then go out of control at a high rate of speed, hit the Ford Escort, pushing it over the edge of the bank toward the library. Then the Range Rover sped up again and hit the corner of the Library South building.”
The Range Rover hit the outside wall of room G548, where Nuriyah Clark of Binghamton’s Success Program was working in her office. According to BU police, Clark — whose name was posted on a sign on the office door after the incident — was “typing on her computer when the wall next to her was shattered inward,” and she was “thrown across the room while sitting in her chair.” She was not sure at the time if a pain in her leg was caused by debris or impact with a desk as she was being propelled. The police report also states that the victim suffered from severe headaches since the incident.
Both Pendergrass and Clark were treated by Harpur’s Ferry, and Pendergrass was transported to Wilson Hospital in Johnson City. Neither was reported to have serious injuries. According to Krakauer, Clark refused to go to the hospital and was treated on site by the ambulance service.
The sign left on the door indicated that Clark was fine but would not be returning to the office for a few days.
Brad Saia, a graduate student who was in the office across from Clark’s when the accident occurred, saw her as she was leaving.
“She was fine, just rightfully surprised by what happened,” he said.
According to Chier, it was not clear what had caused the crash. In the police report, Pendergrass said that he did not know how the accident occurred. He said that he “took the car out of park and into reverse,” and that “he had not even released the emergency brake prior to the car moving.”
According to the report, the parked Ford Escort belonged to BU student Michael R. Grubb, who was not in the car at the time of the accident. It veered over to an asphalted path after it was hit by the Range Rover, and was later able to be driven out.
The Range Rover belonged to Reynaldo Ortiz of Binghamton. The cost of damage to the Range Rover and the South Wall of the Library building have yet to be assessed.