By David Greene

 

A young local politician and a female companion survived a horrific crash, plunging 30 feet off an elevated highway and miraculously survived with minor scrapes and bruises.

The incident took place at just after 7:30 a.m., on Saturday, June 4, when Bronx Democratic male district leader Michael Robles, 28, and an unidentified 22-year-old female companion were traveling Northbound on the Bronx River Parkway at E. 180 Street, when the car went airborne and landed on a pick-up truck-- in a parking lot of the NYPD's Transit District 12 headquarters.

 

Maggie Nieves of Castle Hill was driving her son to get his SAT score at Lehman College, at the time of the crash and returned to the scene, crying, sure that the driver had died.

 

Before speaking with police, Nieves said with tears streaming down her face, "I was on the highway before the car fell. It hit the left rail, it was in the left lane and I looked in the mirror and it just skinned me, that much, and then it hit the rail and fell over."

 

After dropping her son at the school, Nieves continued, "I came back to see what happened. How could he have walked away? This car was out of control. My son and I saw this car fly over the rail and it almost hit us... it happened so fast. In just a blink, that car almost hit me and my son."

 

Nieves then stated, "I saw the car when it swerved, it headed right at me and it hit and fell over. He was going very fast." Nieves then asked, "He didn't die? Was anybody else in the car? It's a miracle, I'm telling you, look at it, I don't believe it. There's no way that nobody didn't die."

 

A Con Edison worker at a work site a block away on Van Nest Avenue, stated after learning about the plunge, "Holy S--t. We were here at 7 a.m., but we didn't hear anything. We had the jackhammer's going and everything. We just heard and saw the police and fire trucks responding."

 

Responding to one unconfirmed report that Robles and the woman were allegedly fighting, the Con Ed worker asked, "Did they make-up?"

 

Candido Nunez was one of about six workers who were working on the front of a building on Morris Park Avenue, a half a block from the crash. Nunez recalled, "One of our workers was so scared because he was going down to buy coffee."

 

Nunez explained, "We heard the boom when it hit another car." Speaking of Robles, Nunez said, "He got out of the car like nothing happened, he just had a cut on his arm, that's it."

 

Looking at the elevated section of highway, Nunez added, "We never thought that this could happen, we never thought that someone's going to survive something like that. We saw the car when they took it away, it was all beat up."

 

After being released from Jacobi Hospital, Robles arrived at the Soundview home of his sister, when he said of the crash, "I lost control but in that area of the Bronx River, it's a tough spot to drive in because there's expansion joints there... metal plates. I was going fast, I was rushing, I was super late to where I needed to be."

 

"Everyone who drives there knows that," Robles continued, "Look at me. I'm talking with you like nothing happened. I mean I'm beside myself. I can just not believe, but I can believe, because I believe in Christ, I believe in God, so I know if someone doesn't believe in him, they can see this and know that two people walked away from that with very minor injuries, they have to believe in God."

 

"When I realized we were airborne," Robles continued, "and going over and going down already, I was like, I'm going to die. You see in the movies, people say, 'Oh my God, pray,' or,  'say a quick prayer,' but it happens way too quick... I thought of my children."

 

Robles, who did not wish to address the report that he and the young woman were arguing before the crash, said he was banged-up on the left side of his body, adding, "I was hurting earlier but now I'm feeling like I could go play basketball."

 

Robles stated that rescue personnel would not allow him near the car as he wanted to check on his passenger, Robles recalled, "The officer's ran out and I could say that the officers, for what happened and it's such a traumatic experience, they were a little pushy trying to get me to answer questions... but most were OK, and concerned."

 

"I'm sorry for causing such a fuss," Robles would say before adding that the 50-mile-per-hour speed limit should be reduced at that section of the roadway, stating, "Especially in that area, they should modify it and make it 35... something definitely has to be done about that, pave it flush or reduce the speed limit in that area there. I'm glad I was able to walk away from this, but God forbid it happens to someone else, the likelihood is that they won't."

 

"I'm just amazed with God," Robles added, "I mean I feel like he had his hand over me." Robles was asked about a second car on the highway, he replied, "I did and I think I did my best not to hit them. So she saw me fly over? I'd like to call her a reassure her that I'm OK."

 

Robles said he was giving his friend a ride home before heading to an Army National Guard base in Yorktown Heights, where he was expected to attend a two-week drill with fellow soldiers.

 

On July 9, 2006, a car traveling in the Southbound lane of the parkway at E. 180 Street, jumped the parkway's divider and slammed into oncoming traffic, killing six, including five member's of a single family.

 

Every July, the Gardiner Memorial Classic is held in St. James Park, honoring those victims. The Gardiner Foundation, founded by family member Dexter Gardiner, and from the assistance of the law firm Gersowitz, Libo & Korek, annually presents scholarships to young students.

 

An NYPD source could not estimate the distance the Acura SUV traveled as it clipped a chain link fence and sailed over a tree and a giant rock, before landing steps away from the transit police station, or confirm that it landed on a transit officer's private vehicle.

 

No charges were filed or summonses issued to Robles, but the NYPD's Highway Patrol continues to investigate.

 

A call to the New York State Department of Transportation was not returned before the publication of this article.