(Middle Village, LI – New York Times March 21, 1952) A 4-year-old girl and her 13 month-old brother were killed yesterday afternoon when a Queens bus and a private car, out of control after a collision, ran onto a sidewalk where adults and children were standing. Seven persons were injured, including the children's mother, whose condition was critical.
The accident happened at 4:15pm at Metropolitan Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street, Middle Village, where Queens-Nassau Transit Company buses from Long Island City make a loop to begin their return trip. The bus in the fatal accident had started a left turn when it collided with the automobile.
The dead children were Irene and Robert Dallas of 65-61 Admiral Avenue, Middle Village. Their mother, Mrs. Frieda Dallas, 38, was taken to Queens General Hospital. The police said that her husband, Sgt. Howell Dallas, was serving with the Army in Alabama.
Mrs. Dallas was a German war bride. Doctors amputated her left leg and tried, in four hours of surgery, to save the right leg.
Both of the dead children were born in Germany, it was learned; another child, Mary Teresa, who is 3 weeks old, was born here. Their father, who was stationed at Camp Rucker, received emergency leave last night and boarded a New York bound plane.
The police said the bus, operated by Edward Grogan, 32 of 104-58 Thirty-eighth Avenue, Corona, was westbound on Metropolitan Avenue. As it started to turn, it collided with a car being driven west by John DeAngelis, 25, of 479 Sutter Avenue, Brooklyn.
Both vehicles went out of control and mounted the sidewalk, Mr. DeAngelis’ car careened into the brick stoop of a house at 64-26 Metropolitan Avenue. The bus sheared off a light pole, sending it crashing into the front of a stationery store at 64-30 Metropolitan Avenue. At the Glendale police station, both drivers were questioned by Assistant District Attorney Thomas P. Cullen. Mr. Cullen established that Mr. DeAngelis’ car had careened along the sidewalk twenty-five feet, striking all the victims, before it stopped against the stoop. The bus had halted after striking the light pole, he said.
Mr. DeAngelis has had a driver’s license for only three weeks, the police said. They added that he apparently had stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake when he realized a collision with the bus was imminent. He was arrested on a charge of criminal negligence for appearance today in Queens Felony Court.
Others who were injured included Mrs. Frieda Uhler, 39, of 64-26 Sixty-fifth Place, Middle Village; her son Douglas, 18 ½ months and Mrs. Elizabeth Haas, 60, of 62-07 Sixty-second Road, Ridgewood. Mrs. Haas was treated at the scene and went home. The Uhlers were not hurt seriously.
Three other persons were taken to Wyckoff Hospital and, after being treated for minor injuries sent home. They were Robert Barnes, 47, of 31 Oakland Place, Brooklyn; Florence Schick, 9, of 69-42 Admiral Avenue, and Carol Jacobson, also 9, of 64-16 Sixty-fifth Street, Ridgewood. The scene of the accident is a neighborhood business section amid a collection of private houses.
