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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Captured on Google's Street View: Moment man collapses in middle of busy New York road

By Anny Shaw

Google's Street View roaming cars with cameras strapped to their roofs have become known for snapping unsuspecting people leaving shops, entering churches or, at worst, kissing someone they should not be.

But one of Google's camera cars captured a far more disturbing scene in New York.
A man is pictured collapsed in the middle of a busy road on the junction of Park Avenue South and East 29th Street. A newspaper lies strewn by his head

Passersby are also caught on camera looking shocked and concerned for the injured man, who lies metres away from the wheels of a passing car.

Google Street View is an application designed to provide web-surfers panoramic views of famous landmarks and tourist highlights in cities across the world.

Series of photographs are stitched together to allow web-users to click on a specific address to see a street level picture of that spot, or to take a virtual tour further around the neighbouring streets.

The images are updated every year.
The cars have attracted criticism for invading privacy. Earlier this year residents of Broughton in Buckinghamshire joined forces to see off a Street View car that arrived in their village to take photographs for the website.

So far Google have not responded to a request for comment.