Fourteen hurt in Woodmere

Posted Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:35 pm

Freak accident disrupts community Chanukah celebration

By Michael Orbach

Issue of Jan. 2, 2009 / 6 Teves 5769

Sarah Weis was feeding her baby when she heard a scream.

Weis looked up just as a sport utility vehicle hurtled through the plate glass window of the building housing the Chabad Chanukah Wonderland in Woodmere. The large window shattered into thousands of pieces as the vehicle crushed Weis’s stroller which was directly in front of her. Weis and her child were unharmed but others weren’t as lucky.

Fourteen people were hurt last Thursday when a powerful SUV slammed into a room filled with more othan 150 parents and children gathered to celebrate Chanukah at a yearly event run by Chabad of the Five Towns. Thursday was the most popular day at the event since most schools were off for Chanukah and most parents had off for Christmas.

At 2:45 the blue BMW struck another SUV parked in front of the building and shoved it up on the sidewalk before roaring around it through the window. The BMW then raced through the room full of people, crossing over a lego pit and striking an inflatable Moonwalk before coming to rest against the back wall. At least two victims were pinned directly underneath the vehicle. Among the 14 injured, six were children. At press time, several adult victims remained hospitalized; all the children had been released.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as 76-year-old Theodore Saretsky, an adjunct professor at Adelphi University and an Atlantic Beach resident. He was released from the hospital on Friday with minor injuries. Nassau County police have said that the crash was caused by a bunched up floor mat; Saretsky has not been charged. The Jewish Star was unable to reach Saretsky.

Minutes after the accident the site was swarmed with Hatzalah volunteers, police officers and firefighters. Five Hatzalah ambulances responded; others were summoned from Queens. The Hewlett Fire Department called in mutual aid from the Woodmere, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, and Meadowmere fire departments which together comprise the entire Third Nassau County Battalion. The Nassau County Fourth Police Precinct called a full mobilization and treated the area as a crime scene. Fifteen minutes after the accident, police were cordoning off the block with yellow tape. Across the street at Q-Cumber’s Cafe a medical command post was set up to decide where patients would be sent based on the severity of their injuries.

According to Woodmere Fire Department Chief Lenny Cherson, injuries ranged from “severe bleeding to traumatic injury to basic shock.” The most severe case was transported by helicopter to Nassau University Medical Hospital. Others were taken to a range of hospitals including Nassau County Community Hospital, Winthrop University Hospital, Franklin General Hospital and Mercy Medical Center.

“I know that when people look at this it looks chaotic, but it was as organized as you’re going to see in that type of situation,” said Cherson who praised the effort and cooperation between Hatzalah and the various departments.

Chaotic was the optimum word for the scene. “People were just screaming and yelling, parents were looking for their kids, kids looking for their parents; it was total chaos,” said an EMT who was among the first on the scene. He also added that there was no easy way to evacuate the people from the building after the crash.

Half an hour after the accident young girls and children wearing yellow Chabad T-shirts cried and huddled together across the street while the injured were loaded onto stretchers.

Thankfully there was no shortage of heroes.

It was the busiest time of day for Leo Shalamoff, who runs Pizza Pious, the pizza store across the street from the structure.

“I saw right away my customers lying on the floor bleeding.” Shalamoff told The Jewish Star. He ran across the street with one of his workers and helped pull children out of the wreckage before stepping inside and, together with 20 others, lifting the car off the two victims.

“I almost cried; you had to stop yourself from crying,” Shalamoff explained. “I couldn’t sleep all night.”

Three children were inside the Moonwalk at the time of the accident. A Chabad of the Five Towns employee named Leah said she managed to grab them before the vehicle hit.

“It happened so fast. It was instinct,” she said.

Physician Yitzchak Moskowitz, a former EMT, was driving down Broadway with his children when the accident occurred. He stopped to help and maintained one victim’s airway until paramedics arrived to insert a breathing tube.

Nachi Light, the owner of the Q-Cumber’s Café called Hatzalah immediately after a customer notified him about the accident. He ran out of his store and into the Wonderland building to show people the back exit before helping to lift the vehicle. He spoke of “achdus” in the wake of the tragedy.

“In every situation there’s a silver lining, if I had to say there was one it would be that,” he said.

A local attorney, Ben Brafman, who said he was informally representing Chabad at the scene, stressed that the crash was accidental and not an attack on Chabad, which was recently the target of terrorists in Mumbai, India.

“This is a horrible tragic accident and I think that’s the word that everyone needs to stress,” Brafman said.

He had been in the building with his children and grandchildren 20 minutes before the crash, he said. “It’s important that people understand this was a terrible accident and not a deliberate act.”

Speaking between Mincha and Maariv in Beth Sholom, Rav Yechiel Weberman, whose wife and four children emerged unharmed from the Wonderland, spoke of the event and lack of casualties as a miracle.

“Miracles happen and you have to let them have an effect on you,” he said, quoting the Sfas Emes.

Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, Rabbi of the Chabad of the Five Towns, said via e-mail that all the children injured were out of the hospital by Friday afternoon. Chabad of the Five Towns sent food home to all the families on Shabbat and toys for all the children. A special therapy meeting was set up for families that were at the Wonderland.

By late Friday afternoon, the day after the accident, the doors and windows of the Chabad Chanukah Wonderland were boarded up with plywood. Workers carried out tables, chairs and children’s toys. A green sign on one of the intact windows advertised the space with a realtor named Lori. The Wonderland was closed temporarily, but all across the community, families were lighting candles for the sixth night of Chanukah.

To share your experiences at the Chanukah Wonderland last Thursday when tragedy struck visit the comments section.