September 21, 2008
BQE Hit and Run Sends Body Parts Flying
A fatal car accident late Friday night left body parts strewn across the BQE in Williamsburg after a man was hit by two separate cars while trying to cross the highway. The accident took place near Wythe Avenue just before midnight . The first car that hit the man sped away from the scene while there were no charges for the second car which remained until police arrived. The victim was a 23-year-old Massachusetts native whose identity will not be released until police notify his family. Police say the impact was severe enough that body parts of the victim ended up on the street below. Update:The blog NYU Local is reporting that the victim was NYU sophomore Paul Fortini.
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Horrible - but man, the BQE has to be the most dangerous interstate in the country. Anyone who tries to cross it on foot must be crazy or intoxicated.
So, if you're crazy - get some meds. Otherwise, stay sober!
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[1] I'd rather see more transplants in NYC and fewer assholes like you.
"Body parts." Ouch. That had to be one hell of a crash.
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"Horrible - but man, the BQE has to be the most dangerous interstate in the country. Anyone who tries to cross it on foot must be crazy or intoxicated."
The most dangerous? Every highway is equally dangerous. This is why one does not cross on foot.
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i didnt see any bodyparts, just a shoe...
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it's an elevated road - why on earth would anyone be crossing it on foot???
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The only explanation is he was incoherently drunk. No person with even the lightest of faculties would try to run across the BQE. It's just sad.
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"Brooklyn: Only the Strong Survive"
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GOP said:
Clearly you don't do much driving around the country...
You would have to be completely incoherent of what was going on, or a complete idiot to try to cross there. That's right after a blind hill, with traffic usually running 65+ MPH (which isnt' exactly genius in and of itself, but I digress). If someone came over the top of that hill and saw this guy, they wouldn't have even had time to tap the brakes before hitting him.
Sad way to go, all the same.
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The name of the college doesn't determine if person is smart or not because clearly this guy doesn't have common sense. Idiot.
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The first driver must have been speeding mightily to produce the carnage described. In areas where pedestrians might cross these expressways there should be cameras because in this day and age, drivers don't stop after they hit someone.
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"Clearly you don't do much driving around the country..."
You miss the point. But thanks for trying.
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You people all think you're so clever and so funny joking about this. I knew him and he was smarter than that. He made a stupid mistake and it cost him his life, he had so much more to offer the world and if he was given the time would have done great things. He was a great guy who was loved by many many people, our community will be grieving for a long time. I don't see how you people can live with yourselves saying things like that. To you that picture of a shoe might be nothing, but it makes this all real. If only it wasn't...
It makes me so sick to think that people can just drive off after ending someones life and then others can joke about Darwin awards and killing off transplants. If you people like living like that then you never have to worry about me setting foot in your god damn city.
To the rest of you thank you for your sympathy, I hope you never have to go through anything like this. The 2nd driver did the right thing. Eventhough there was no way they could change the outcome staying there shows they were a good person. It's the small things like that that keep my faith in humanity after seeing all these atrocities.
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I must echo the previous remarks and ask that you please refrain from making disparaging remarks about this person. Please realize that his friends and family are scouring the internet, trying to make sense of what happened and some of the posts here are horribly insensitive. I don't imagine that most of you know him personally, making it infinitely easier to judge him. Please be considerate.
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Well, there's the apparent explanation in the update. Looks like he was just a college student trying to get back to Manhattan and probably lost his way in unfamiliar surroundings. So as an out of towner, he wasn't as "clever" and knowledgeable as all the lifelong NYers who take such glee in his demise here. Like they never made mistakes in their misbegotten lives.
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Its very sad this story. theres alot of facts about this tragedy over @ http://www.topix.net/forum/source/wnbc/TDNPD9LF1R8RT53CU I hope the family does find the truth. 1
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http://www.wnbc.com/news/17519363/detail.html?dl=headlineclick HIS NAME WAS Paul Fortini
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Kids do stupid shit and break their parents hearts.
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So is NYC the hit and run capital of america?
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Maybe he was running late for a hipster party? Were the shoes shell top addidas?...
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Stop making jokes.
He wasn't some kid, some drunk, some idiot.
He was a person and he was my friend.
He made a mistake, he was lost.
Don't feel sorry for him, feel sorry for people like yourselves, the ones who never had an opportunity to know someone so pure, so giving.
The kind comments here are welcome, the disrespectful ones tears the open wound in so many of our hearts.
I had to look into his parents' eyes last night, despite how upset you have made me, I could never wish that kind of pain on any of you.
Let this one be.
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Trying to cross the highway near Wythe Avenue would indicated he was on the Williamsburg Bridge, so probably looking for the pedestrian/ bike path along the bridge, which is easy enough to miss if you are not familiar with the neighborhood. Obviously would have been better off taking the L train - 3 stops/10 minutes to NYU area, or a cab - $12/10 minutes to NYU area, but hindsight is 20/20.
This is a real tragedy, and is indicative of the fact that when cities are made for cars rather than people, particulary interstate highways that run right through the heart of a neighborhood (thanks Robert Moses), the penalty for a college kid getting lost or a local kid riding his bike the wrong way or a kid chasing a ball into the street or countless other examples, the penalty is death. That is a horrrible thing that needs to be dealt with in this city where 400 pedestrian are mowed down every year, with almost zero consequences to the perpetrators.