On Wednesday afternoon, two cars crashed into each other in front of the Hub on Third apartment complex, missing the building by a few feet and hitting a traffic light pole.
Meg Pierucki, a 19-year-old resident of the Hub on Third and UF education science sophomore, recalled hearing a loud bang around 3:50 p.m.
Initially thinking it was a Publix truck unloading, she stuck her head out the window, like many other residents, and “saw the car in the pole and smoke going everywhere,” she said.
A green Toyota Highlander was traveling along Northwest 13th Street in the left lane by Publix when a black Nissan Altima traveling in the same direction veered left into its lane causing a major accident, witnesses said.
The green car then “went flying into the pole” on the corner of Northwest 13th Street and West University Avenue landing on the sidewalk, according to Michael O’Malley, a 19-year-old UF philosophy, politics, economics and law sophomore, who witnessed the accident and immediately called 911.
Witnesses say the green car was carrying an older woman and a young boy. The black car, carrying two teenagers, crashed into the young boy’s side of the car causing him to become temporarily stuck inside as the door was smashed inward.
The teenage boys in the black car got out of the car, checked on the people in the green car and sat on the curb.
All four individuals involved in the crash were transported to the hospital by ambulance with minor injuries, according to Gainesville police spokesperson Art Forgey.
O’Malley said a bystander came up to the boys after the crash and “berated them on the sidewalk” and told them they needed to be more careful.
Traffic through the intersection was shut down and being directed away by Gainesville Police until about an hour after the crash, when both cars had been moved.
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org.
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies students serving as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice beat reporter. She previously served as a copy editor. She spends her free time running, traveling, having movie nights and going on random side quests with friends.
