A 78-year-old man riding in an Access-A-Ride bus was killed in a chaotic Brooklyn crash involving an FDNY firetruck just steps away from his home on Tuesday night, after coming back from a medical appointment with his wife, according to his neighbors.
Police said Placido Dandrea was the only person who died in the chain-reaction collision on West 11th Street and Avenue S in Gravesend, which sent a dozen other people to the hospital with injuries.
“They were 50 feet away from their house,” longtime neighbor Wes Paloscio said Wednesday, noting Dandrea and his family have been fixtures on the block for at least 50 years.
According to the NYPD, the multivehicle crash happened around 6:45 p.m., when a Ford van collided with a firetruck that had its lights and sirens on. The impact sent the firetruck — which was heading eastbound on Avenue S — into the westbound lane, where it slammed into the Access-A-Ride bus, officials said.
The coach bus then hit a Lexus SUV, and the firetruck hit two unoccupied parked cars before coming to a stop, according to officials.
Surveillance video of the incident shared by neighbor Yimei Huang shows the Access-A-Ride coach bus stopping at the intersection. The firetruck can be heard offscreen and moments later it collides with the the Access-A-Ride vehicle, which was propelled back into the SUV and ultimately into the opposite travel lane. Car alarms go off, the Access-A-Ride driver is seen getting out of the coach bus wearing a neon safety vest and firefighters exit the firetruck.
A screenshot of surveillance video showing the crash in Gravesend on March 10, 2026
Police said Dandrea was taken to South Brooklyn Health in critical condition, where he later died. Paloscio said he stood with Dandrea’s daughter at the scene of the crash while paramedics performed CPR on her father.
“I saw her all panicked,” Paloscio said, adding he was told the Dandrea and his wife were returning from a medical appointment.
“They were just a good-hearted people. He was retired. You go down that block anytime in the summer, you'll see them sitting on the porch,” Paloscio said, adding that they were often with their children and grandchild. “ They're the only house that you see them outside with the little baskets with the trick-or-treat candy.”
Paloscio said Dandrea’s wife was still being treated at the hospital following the crash. Family members declined to speak with reporters who visited Dandrea’s home on Wednesday afternoon.
All the others involved in the crash were reported in stable condition, according to authorities.
A damaged car parked near a crash scene at Avenue S and West 11th Street in Gravesend on March 11, 2026
Marcello Ocello, who lives near the intersection, said he heard a “big boom” on Tuesday night and came outside his home to see what was going on.
“It was chaos. I'd seen the van, it had no front,” he said Wednesday. “The whole front was gone, right on the corner, sitting under the firetruck.”
Ocello said it was the worst crash he has seen in the more than 30 years he has lived in his home.
The NYPD said it is still investigating the incident and could not yet say which vehicle had the right of way. The FDNY said the truck was headed to another firehouse amid an all-hands emergency.
The MTA, which oversees Access-A-Ride paratransit services, referred a reporter to the city and declined to comment further.
Paloscio lamented how the disaster may have been avoided if the timing of the crash had been different by even a few seconds.
“ It’s sad,” he said. “That’s how quick life changes, that fast.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
