Crazed Louisiana Driver Slams Into Multiple Cars On 86th Street & Bay Parkway [Updated]

A dramatic collision occurred at one of Bensonhurst’s most densely populated intersections Sunday morning, at approximately 10:49am, when an apparently crazed New Orleans man slammed his car into at least six vehicles.

Steven Halpern, 79, was arrested and charged for trying to flee the scene of an accident and causing injury to two people, after he rammed his gold car backwards into a white car four times on the corner of Bay 31st Street and 86th Street, cops said. Halpern then drove off — leaving a 63-year-old female driver with a badly damaged car and neck injuries — and struck several other vehicles as well as a pedestrian who was exiting his car. Then the Louisiana man put his vehicle in reverse, striking additional vehicles in a third collision, police said.

As the gold car finally screeched to a halt, onlookers formed a crowd around the vehicle and started yelling at the driver who stayed inside the totaled car and was seen speaking on his cellphone.

“Some were telling him to get out. He was scared and didn’t want to come out,” a tipster who asked to remain anonymous told Bensonhurst Bean. “The mob was getting crazy. I stood in front of him at one point and yelled for people to get back. He was OK; he didn’t seem drunk or high or anything. He was just nervous at the crowd. It seemed like he was talking to a family member on the phone.”

The first struck car lurched from the impact and hit a third car, in a domino effect, the tipster told Bensonhurst Bean. Cops taped off the area around several damaged vehicles Sunday morning until the wreckage was cleared.

Both victims — the 63-year-old female driver and the 55-year-old male pedestrian — were treated and moved to an area hospital, said authorities.

Here is a video of the aftermath, courtesy of reader Stephanie Lu:

// <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) {  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;  js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3";  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>

If you have photos of the collision or tips, please email editor@bensonhurstbean.com.

Correction [4:30pm]: A previous version of this article stated the accident happened on Monday, that the driver’s car was “out of control,” and that there were no injuries. We have updated the post to include newly available information from police authorities and regret any discrepancies.