flying accord lands in 2nd floor apartment.
09-13-2006, 08:57 AM
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flying accord lands in 2nd floor apartment.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-380393c.html
Car goes airborne
Driver killed in 150-ft. flight into 2nd floor of L.I. condo
BY JOHN MICHAEL LAUINGER and DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Wreck of Honda Accord in which Vincent Pontillo died rests inside second-floor apartment after crashing through wall of condo in Coram, L.I. The car was reportedly speeding at an estimated 110 mph before going over a dirt bank and soaring 150 feet over 30-foot pine trees.
This is the remarkable aftermath of an amazing 150-foot flight - by a car - that ended in a deadly tangle of twisted metal and shattered glass in a second-floor apartment on Long Island yesterday.
The flying Honda was doing an estimated 110 mph when it rocketed up a dirt bank and over 30-foot pine trees like a Hollywood stunt car, police said.
It cleared a landscaped lawn half the length of a football field, then slammed through the wall of the Coram condo complex around 9 a.m.
The driver was killed but no one else was injured.
"Do you think this guy was trying to fly?" neighbor Joel Carter, 28, asked in disbelief.
Cops identified the driver as Vincent Pontillo, 44, who recently moved back into his mother's house on the block, neighbors said.
Pontillo had his seat belt on, cops said, suggesting he wasn't suicidal. Blood tests showed no immediate signs of alcohol.
Investigators said his death may have been an accident or he might have suffered a seizure, causing him to lose control of his car.
"It's just a horrible accident," said a family friend, who arrived in a black Jaguar bearing vanity plate ULKNATME - apparently short for "you lookin' at me?"
Autopsy results were pending.
Montillo was behind the wheel of his maroon Honda Accord when he floored the gas pedal on Osborne Ave., an arrow-straight road that ends in a dead end.
He was doing well over 100mph when he roared past neighbor Joe Gandolfo, 40, who was sitting on his front porch.
"It was just a maroon blur," Gandolfo said. "He was flying."
At the end of the mile-long street, the car hit the waist-high earthen bank that acted like a ramp, sending the car into the air. Incredibly, it skied over the trees, a long yard and a one-story utility shed.
Grazing a silver maple tree, it plowed through a brick wall and into the apartment.
Gandolfo was stunned when he went down the block and couldn't see the car that just blew past his house.
"I ran to the dead end and I couldn't find the car," said Gandolfo,.
Luckily, condo owner Lauren Pogran had already left for work when the flying missile struck. Neighbor Amrita Bijoor was jolted awake by the impact.
"It scared me," said Bijoor, 30. "I never imagined it was a car of all things."
Pogran arrived home to find the car's rear end peeking out of her wall. She worried about her 4-month-old cat, Meeko, who was still stuck in the heavily damaged apartment.
"I just want my cat back," she pleaded with cops. "I don't care about any of my [stuff] up there."
Car goes airborne
Driver killed in 150-ft. flight into 2nd floor of L.I. condo
BY JOHN MICHAEL LAUINGER and DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Wreck of Honda Accord in which Vincent Pontillo died rests inside second-floor apartment after crashing through wall of condo in Coram, L.I. The car was reportedly speeding at an estimated 110 mph before going over a dirt bank and soaring 150 feet over 30-foot pine trees.
This is the remarkable aftermath of an amazing 150-foot flight - by a car - that ended in a deadly tangle of twisted metal and shattered glass in a second-floor apartment on Long Island yesterday.
The flying Honda was doing an estimated 110 mph when it rocketed up a dirt bank and over 30-foot pine trees like a Hollywood stunt car, police said.
It cleared a landscaped lawn half the length of a football field, then slammed through the wall of the Coram condo complex around 9 a.m.
The driver was killed but no one else was injured.
"Do you think this guy was trying to fly?" neighbor Joel Carter, 28, asked in disbelief.
Cops identified the driver as Vincent Pontillo, 44, who recently moved back into his mother's house on the block, neighbors said.
Pontillo had his seat belt on, cops said, suggesting he wasn't suicidal. Blood tests showed no immediate signs of alcohol.
Investigators said his death may have been an accident or he might have suffered a seizure, causing him to lose control of his car.
"It's just a horrible accident," said a family friend, who arrived in a black Jaguar bearing vanity plate ULKNATME - apparently short for "you lookin' at me?"
Autopsy results were pending.
Montillo was behind the wheel of his maroon Honda Accord when he floored the gas pedal on Osborne Ave., an arrow-straight road that ends in a dead end.
He was doing well over 100mph when he roared past neighbor Joe Gandolfo, 40, who was sitting on his front porch.
"It was just a maroon blur," Gandolfo said. "He was flying."
At the end of the mile-long street, the car hit the waist-high earthen bank that acted like a ramp, sending the car into the air. Incredibly, it skied over the trees, a long yard and a one-story utility shed.
Grazing a silver maple tree, it plowed through a brick wall and into the apartment.
Gandolfo was stunned when he went down the block and couldn't see the car that just blew past his house.
"I ran to the dead end and I couldn't find the car," said Gandolfo,.
Luckily, condo owner Lauren Pogran had already left for work when the flying missile struck. Neighbor Amrita Bijoor was jolted awake by the impact.
"It scared me," said Bijoor, 30. "I never imagined it was a car of all things."
Pogran arrived home to find the car's rear end peeking out of her wall. She worried about her 4-month-old cat, Meeko, who was still stuck in the heavily damaged apartment.
"I just want my cat back," she pleaded with cops. "I don't care about any of my [stuff] up there."
09-13-2006, 09:27 AM
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09-13-2006, 11:09 AM
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09-13-2006, 11:09 AM
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Floppy Death! noES!!!
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