Rehoboth,DE : NYC crash hits too close to home on may, Thursday 18th 2017

Holly Mayhew just wanted to take one more photo. Her daughter and two friends agreed, although they were anxious to see the sights of Times Square. It wasn’t until after they left the cafe at noon May 18 that Mayhew realized how momentous the photo would turn out to be.

“I was rushing them out because I wanted to show them a few more things,” said Mayhew, a chaperone of a Mariner Middle School field trip that had traveled to New York City for a Broadway show.

“As we walked out of the cafe, the car was at the second block,” she said. “People were down and bleeding on the sidewalk. I just grabbed the girls and got out of there.”

Mayhew said there were dozens of people on the ground, mowed down by a car that careened along a Times Square sidewalk. A Bronx man is in custody after police say he deliberately drove onto the sidewalk, killed one girl and injured about 20 others.

For about two blocks, Mayhew said, she led the girls through the mayhem toward the safety of the Majestic Theatre, where the rest of the Mariner group safely met. Mayhew, who has a background in nursing, said she was able to keep calm. But when the lights dimmed for the afternoon showing of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the magnitude of what happened sank in.

“I started thinking about it, and I started shaking,” she said.

Parent Daria Rowe said she is forever grateful for the photo. “If they had not stopped to take that picture … well, I shudder to think what could have happened,” she said.

Milton parent Kristin Patterson also accompanied a group of students, and they were heading to Times Square for lunch when they heard and saw the commotion.

“We could see people all on the ground,” she said. “It was really awful. We were walking toward where it happened.”

Patterson said she quickly redirected the group out of the area. “Police were in SWAT gear because no one knew what was going on,” she said.

The Mariner group used social media to contact everyone who had split off to sightsee before the show. It took about an hour for the group to reunite at the theater, she said. “It’s amazing how social media works,” she said. “We were truly blessed that nothing happened.”


Source :
NYC crash hits too close to home