Car Plunges Headfirst Into Sinkhole as Woman Parks in Driveway

A car plunged headfirst into a 10-foot-wide sinkhole on Long Island Friday as a woman was parking in her driveway after returning from an acupuncture appointment.

Authorities said the woman had just arrived at her Rockville Centre home when the ground opened up, swallowing her four-door Subaru.

The driver, 65-year-old Gayle Sorrentino, said she was in shock but managed to call 911 after the car toppled into the hole.

"I was only afraid -- the sand around started to come down a little bit, and I just didn't know if it was going to stay stationary or going to collapse," said Sorrentino. 

A friend, Howard Osborne, said he was inside the home and came up the stairs to see the car sticking up in the air.

He rushed outside and Sorrentino told him she had already called 911. Rescuers arrived and were able to pull her out the driver's side window, Osborne said.

Sorrentino was not hurt.

Osborne said he believed that the sinkhole opened up over a dry well from the 1920s, while authorities described it as a cesspool.

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