2 hospitalized after car hits taxi, slams into garage

Two men are hospitalized this evening after a car slammed into a garage in New Hempstead.
Police say the accident happened at around 10 a.m. when a 72-year-old man rear-ended a taxi cab on Viola Road. They say the elderly man then veered off of Viola Road and crossed onto Marcia Lane, where his car jumped up onto a home's lawn and slammed into an attached garage.
Authorities say the county hazmat team was called in because the taxi's fuel tank ruptured and leaked fuel into a storm drain. Officials eventually deemed the area safe and secured the house.
Police say the elderly man is believed to have suffered an unknown medical episode, which cops say may have caused the crash.