SUV ends up inside New Park Pizza’s dining room; driver and customer hurt

Two people were hurt Thursday afternoon when a white BMW SUV smashed through the brick rear wall of a longtime Queens pizzeria and stopped inside its dining room.

Shortly before 1:15 p.m., the FDNY was called to the Howard Beach restaurant, which sits at 156-71 Cross Bay Blvd. According to police, the 68-year-old woman behind the wheel was pulling into the parking lot out back when she stepped on the gas rather than the brake. She lost control, and the SUV punched through the wall, coming to rest with almost all of it inside.

Driver and customer hurt

The driver complained of knee and neck pain. A customer, a 73-year-old man, had a cut on his knee. EMS took both to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn. The FDNY described them as stable and said neither injury was life-threatening.

Officers with the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit pulled the SUV out. FDNY Chief Malek Alhadi noted that the vehicle came in through the spot where a window had been, and that the support lintel over that opening was still standing. “It’s a miracle that a life wasn’t lost here,” said Council Member Joann Ariola.

Vacate order on the door

Department of Buildings inspectors checked the one-story building for structural stability and found heavy damage to its rear side wall. Utilities were cut, though the front exit was unaffected, and a board-up crew put a construction fence around the damaged section. By evening, a vacate order was posted on the door and the shop was closed. The investigation is continuing.

For 70 years the pizzeria has stood on Cross Bay Boulevard, and in summer beachgoers stop there on their way to or from the Rockaways. Four sisters now own the business, which their grandfather and father ran before them. The two injured people are in their prayers, two of the sisters said, adding that they want both to recover fully. Their goal is to finish repairs and make the building safe enough to reopen.