One person was killed and at least seven were injured when a runaway tractor-trailer careening down East Hill crashed into Simeon’s restaurant Friday afternoon in downtown Ithaca. By 7:45 a.m. Saturday, the truck was removed from the building and East State Street was reopened. North Aurora Street was closed and fenced off from the Commons to The Mahogany Grill. Restaurants on the east side of Aurora Street were not affected. The driver of the truck sustained superficial injuries and was being questioned at Ithaca police headquarters, police said Friday. The cause of the crash and whether speed was a factor were being investigated. Lindsey Pou, 26, a pastry chef at nearby Madeline’s Restaurant, said she was sitting outside on The Commons when she saw the tractor-trailer barreling down East State Street and smash into the building. She said the driver did not sound the horn, and she did not hear any screeching brakes. There were a number of diners sitting in the restaurant, and more Simeon’s employees were arriving for the evening shift when the accident occurred, she said. A group of construction workers renovating The Commons were standing in the truck’s path and had to leap out of the way to avoid being hit, according to Pou. “Everyone screamed. A lot of people ran to try and help, to see what they could do,” she said. “The response time for the police was really quick, which was awesome. They took hold of the situation.” Police evacuated the 100 block of North Aurora Street and the 200 block of East State-MLK Street, according to Ithaca Police Department Public Information Officer Jamie Williamson. A small fire started in the bar area of Simeon’s immediately after the collision but was extinguished. The city engineer’s office as well as an outside engineering firm were evaluating the building. After the truck collided with the restaurant, the building’s front corner collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the apartments above Simeon’s. Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick said the occupants of the apartments were not home at the time of the collision. 
 
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 Myrick advised people to avoid the east end of The Commons for the time being. “There is some risk of the building collapsing,” he said. “We did bring in a crane. We have our building inspectors on the scene. They are going to tell us what we need to do to the building to keep it stable. We want to save the building if we can. It’s beautiful land, it’s historic, but safety is our number one priority right now. If we feel that the building is going to collapse, we will take it down ourselves.” Late Friday evening, a crane tore a section off the four-story building’s roof. Tow trucks were on the scene to remove the car carrier. Williamson said four injured people had been transported to Cayuga Medical Center with an additional person possibly arriving on their own. A hospital spokesperson said seven injured people had been admitted. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, they said. The names of the person killed and of the driver were not immediately released. Previous accidents Pou noted that the particular location has a history of such accidents. In September 2010, a dump truck headed down the State-Martin Luther King Street hill and hit the Community School of Music and Art building at Seneca Way. Only the driver was hurt. Authorities said he apparently lost control of the gravel-laden truck, which then rolled over and hit parked cars, then the building. The driver was pinned but extricated within 15 minutes. The building was evacuated and closed until damages were repaired and it was confirmed safe. In 2008, police suspected brake failure when a northbound car headed down South Hill on Aurora Street and hit a parked delivery truck in the 100 block of the street. The driver and four children riding with her were hospitalized. “I don’t want to say this frequently happens, but this isn’t the first time we’ve had a horrible accident of this magnitude here,” Pou said. Myrick said tractor-trailers are allowed on East State-Martin Luther King Jr. Street, given that it is a state route, and he noted that bollards are installed on The Commons to avoid such accidents, although they were not enough to withstand a large tractor-trailer towing two decks of cars. ||||| Ithaca, N.Y. — Michael Howe was walking down Aurora Street when he saw a tractor trailer come barreling down State Street and jumped — just barely — out of its way. 
 
 “Thank God I’m here today,” he said. 
 
 At around 4 p.m. Friday, a tractor trailer carrying multiple cars down State Street slammed into Simeon’s Restaurant on the Ithaca Commons. Police have confirmed one person was killed in the crash and three were sent to the hospital. The driver is in police custody. 
 
 After jumping out of the way, Howe watched in horror as the truck slammed into the restaurant. He couldn’t get a look at the driver. 
 
 “I saw the building come down on top of it, collapse on top of it,” he said of the truck. “Bricks fell off two stories up.” 
 
 Howe then acted quickly. He picked up a brick that had fallen and helped break open the windows of Simeon’s to help people escape the wreck. 
 
 “There were two people injured coming out. One girl had her face all bloody, the other guy had parts of his face and arm all bloody. His right arm. But they got medical attention so hopefully they’re OK,” Howe said. 
 
 Howe said the experience was traumatizing but was heartened he was not alone in rushing into the restaurant to help the victims. 
 
 “Literally everybody started flocking to help,” he said. “I’m just glad I could be part of the community and pitch in on that.” 
 
 Read more of our coverage here.
– A tractor-trailer carrying cars slammed into a restaurant in Ithaca, NY, yesterday, killing one person and injuring seven others, reports the Ithaca Journal. The driver survived, and the investigation is continuing into what happened. A witness tells the newspaper that the truck didn't sound its horn as it came barreling down East Hill and that she heard no screeching brakes before impact. The Ithaca Voice talks to another witness, one of a number of pedestrians who had to jump out of the truck's way. "Thank God I'm here today," he says. Ithaca is home to both Cornell and Ithaca College. (It's the second high-profile tractor-trailer accident this month, the other being the crash that critically injured Tracy Morgan. He's since been moved to rehab.)