Karaoke clubgoers rescued a homeless man from the smoking wreckage of a stolen car shortly before it burst into flames in Lower Manhattan Friday night, police officers and witnesses told the Daily News.
Marble Rodrigeuz, 60, was smoking a cigarette outside a karaoke place in John St. when she saw a white rushing Kia Forte EX with TLC signs loses control on Maiden Lane and hits a pole near Nassau St. Financial district around 7:11 p.m., she told the Daily News.
Rodriguez and two other men rushed to the driver’s aid but were shocked to recognize him as a homeless man who usually sets up camp on the sidewalk outside a nearby pharmacy, she said.
“I looked at him and, oh my god, this is the guy sleeping in front of Duane Reade,” Rodriguez said.
The brave crooners pulled the driver from the smoking life car just moments before it burst into flames.
“He was lying there with his eyes closed and bleeding from the mouth,” Rodrigeuz said. “I got into the car and turned it off. There was already smoke and then there were flames.”
Paramedics took the driver to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, police said.
Officers who responded to the crash linked the injured driver to another collision that happened about two blocks away and just minutes before, police said.
The Kia driver crashed into one Yellow 2022 Amber 4 on Broadway near Maiden Lane around 7:07 p.m. and argued with the car’s 56-year-old driver before it peeled off, according to police.
No arrests have yet been made.
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