A sanitation truck clearing snow off a Queens street plowed through with such force that it threw mounds of heavy snow across the sidewalk and into a restaurant, blowing out the storefront and knocking over a customer seated inside, video shows.
It's the second time in just over a week that a New York City business has been damaged by snow and ice from a quick-moving snowplow truck.
Surveillance video from Thursday night's wave of snow at Exo Cafe on Austin Street in Forest Hills shows the moment the windows shatter.
A female customer seated by the window is knocked off her seat and tumbles over from the blast of the windows.
"Everybody jumped. The glass went all the way up to the bar," said restaurant manager Peter Kambitsis.
He said the driver of the plow truck didn't stop and that employees had to catch up to the driver when he finally stopped at a traffic light.
In a statement Friday, the Department of Sanitation said it conducted an investigation and is taking disciplinary action against the plow truck operators.
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The customer who fell over from the blast went to the hospital to get checked out and appeared to be OK, said Kambitsis.
Kambitsis said the doors were broken and that he had to stay in the restaurant overnight Thursday to guard the business.
Last week, a snowplow in Brooklyn knocked over a pedestrian and broke the glass door of an auto dealership when it similarly sent up a wall of snow and slush. The Department of Sanitation said it was taking disciplinary action against the drivers in that incident.
The pedestrian said it was "very painful" getting hit in the face by ice.
