NEW YORK — They Might Be Giants lead guitarist John Flansburgh was hospitalized with serious injuries following an Upper East Side car crash sparked by a drunk driver, police said Friday.
Flansburgh, 62, was taking a car service back to his Upper East Side home after the band had a show at the Bowery Ballroom at about 12:45 a.m. Thursday when the Ford he was riding in was T-boned by a 2016 Honda near the corner of Park Avenue and East 102nd Street.
The “Birdhouse in your Soul” guitarist’s Ford overturned and struck another car, cops said. The Honda, driven by 26-year-old William Mota, lost control, vaulted a curb and slammed into a gate outside the Carver Houses, cops said.
The car took out a planter and knocked the sign for the NYCHA complex off one of its posts.
“I heard a car hit the gate and it sounded like the car was tumbling over the gate,” eyewitness Jesus Flores, 34, said. “Then you see somebody trying to help people out of the car because it looked like it was going to blow up. It was really smoky.”
“The force of the impact actually flipped our car over to its side,” Flansburgh said on Instagram. “While the driver and I oriented ourselves to our new sideways, broken glass and airbag-filled reality, we sensed the ominous smell of motor oil and smoke. Remarkably, just a moment later it seemed, a dozen NYC firemen arrived and set their minds on finding a way to liberate us.”
EMS rushed Flansburgh and his 32-year-old driver to Cornell Hospital, where doctors learned that the guitarist had broken seven ribs.
They Might Be Giants postponed the rest of the band’s June tour dates as Flansburgh recovers.
“I would understand anyone thinking we are just a band born under a bad sign and giving up hope, but I also know someday we will rock again — and for me, that day couldn’t come soon enough,” Flansburgh posted from his hospital bed. “Until then I will be watching reruns of Sex in the City until I am strong enough to reach the remote. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.”
Mota, a Bronx resident, blew past a red light before slamming into Flansburgh’s Ford. He tried to fight off responding police as he was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital with minor injuries. A 21-year-old riding with him suffered an injury to her knee and was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Cops charged Mota with drunk driving, resisting arrest and refusing to take a Breathalyzer test. His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Friday.
Flansburgh co-founded They Might Be Giants in 1982 with longtime friend John Linnell while studying at Pratt Institute.
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