Boy in coma after NYPD van crash

(New York -WABC, May 24, 2006) (WABC) -- Several people are in the in the hospital, including two little boys who were thrown from their mother's SUV when an NYPD police van slammed into it.

Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Pegues is at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn.

Every single day in New York City NYPD officers respond to emergencies with their sirens blaring, and witnesses and police say they were doing just that today when an NYPD van collided with the vehicle carrying the young mother and her two sons.

Family members say as a result a six year old boy is inside Brookdale Hospital in a coma.

Six year-old Diamond Nicholas and his 10 year-old brother Raven Nicholas sustained the most serious injuries. Both are recovering at Brookdale Hospital, their family and friends concerned about the severity of their injuries.

The young boys had been launched from their mother's green SUV when the police van slammed into them. The accident happened at about 4:30 p.m. at the corner of Blake Avenue and Amboy Street.

Police say the van, which was carrying several officers, was responding to a call. Witnesses say the sirens were blaring, but the collision occurred anyway.

Pearl Nicholas was behind the wheel, her sons in the car with her, a block away from home. They ended up wedged against Noel Beck's fence.

Noel Beck, Witness: "I hear, bang! And when I look around, I saw the jeep spun around into my fence and two kids flew out onto the sidewalk."

In all, eight people were hurt including five police officers some of whom suffered neck and back injuries. They were taken to Jamaica Hospital. They will recover.

But the future is uncertain for the two little boys ejected from this vehicle so close to home. It is something their older sister will never forget.

Bena Nicholas, Victims' Sister: "I saw two little boys flying from a car but I didn't know it was my family until I went up close and it was my two little brothers laying on the floor."

And with so many injured at the scene, witnesses describe seeing one plain clothes officer pull up to the scene, grab one of the injured kids heroically, rush that child to a nearby car and then on to Brookdale Hospital. He is being praised tonight by people in that neighborhood but the investigation continues. The NYPD says before the accident happened, they were responding to a call of a man with a gun in a nearby housing complex.

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