An NYPD traffic cop was fatally mowed down by a truck in busy Midtown on Saturday afternoon, after he paused from his duties to make a cell phone call.
Witnesses said the victim, whose name is being withheld by The Post because his family has not yet been notified, was on 44th Street, mid-block between Fifth and Madison avenues, when he stopped in front of a parked Vacuum Truck Rentals truck to make what would be his final phone call.
“He was talking on his cell phone,” recounted Anthony Trinidad, a doorman on the block. “The guy was in front of the truck, directly in front of the front right headlight.”
Police examine the grisly scene where an NYPD traffic agent was run over and killed by a vacuum truck in Midtown Saturday.Photo: William Farrington
Suddenly, the vacuum truck began moving forward, its driver apparently unaware that the traffic cop was standing there, the doorman said.
“The truck clipped him, rolled over him. His leg got caught up in the truck,” Trinidad said.
The truck knocked the traffic cop over and “rolled him up into the tire,” the anguished witness remembered.
Afterward, “He seemed lifeless. There was no movement at all from the guy,” Trinidad said.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly rushed to the scene of the 2:30 p.m. incident, speaking to reporters even as the victim still lay partially under the vacuum truck, covered in a white sheet.
“It underscores how dangerous the job can be,” Kelly said. “He was in a roadway doing his job and he was struck and killed. So the investigation is ongoing.”
Kelly added, “It’s gut-wrenching. . . .People don’t make a lot of money, but they’re out there in the middle of some heavy traffic, worst possible weather, day and night. It’s a dangerous job and unfortunately things like this sometimes happen.”
The vacuum truck driver has not been charged in the accident.
“It was a freak accident,” Trinidad said. “The guy didn’t see him. He happened to be directly in front of the truck when the truck decided to take off.
“[It was] pretty traumatic,” Trinidad added. “It makes you feel like life’s short, very short.”
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=18198
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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