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After being struck by one car, a man was dragged by a second vehicle through 17 miles of highway from Queens into Brooklyn early this morning. Police have not been able to identify the man who was originally struck by the SUV at 6 a.m. in Corona, not far from Shea Stadium and would not be discovered until the van's driver arrived in Coney Island an hour later. Along the way, the body was dragged from the Grand Central Parkway to the Van Wyck Expressway and then onto the Belt Parkway before other motorists flagged the driver down.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke to the press describing the incident:
"The victim is struck by the first car. That driver reports that he believes he struck somebody, but apparently right after he strikes the individual the body is hit again by another vehicle and dragged a total of what appears to be 17 miles until eventually that driver stops...(The driver) did stop once during his trip, he reported, but he didn't see anything unusual and got back in the car."The victim had originally been trying to cross 108th Street near 51st Avenue and was eventually discovered on on Brighton 10th Terrace. The Daily News says that the driver smelled something burning, but was not sure what it was. City Room describes that the body was stuck lying "parallel to the car, the head and shoulders protruding from beneath front bumper."
A witness in Coney Island said she recognize the maroon Chevy van belonging to Cancun Express car service. Its driver, identified as Manual Gaspar Latuna Sanchez, believed that drivers in front of him were trying to avoid a pothole when they were likely steering clear of the body after it had been struck by the SUV. No charges are expected for either driver. Kelly also said that a cadre of uniformed police officers was retracing the van’s route in search of body parts and articles of clothing.
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The comment from Queens to Brooklyn can be killer, but this is ridiculous!
omg i laughed. i am going to hell.
NO ONE SAW THIS as he drove? Oh my goodness.
Just like DiNiro in 'Cape Fear', but dead.
This was posted to the ny times site this morning, and as usual, the comments ranged from disgust at the driver to blaming it on the victim.
The fact that you could drive 17 miles with someone under your car without a cop seeing it, but you can't ride a bike more than 100 yards without a helmet without being harassed by cops should tell you where the city's priorities are.
There's no law requiring helmets, what are you talking about?
Not true. Helmets are required by law since mid 2007. And from dusk to dawn, a headlight is required. Cops can (and do) give tickets out for this when they feel like it (e.g., quota time). The fines range from $50-100
Actually, the helmets may only apply to commercial cyclists... but, I've been harassed by cops. Maybe they thought I was a delivery guy.
What? You only have to wear a helmet by law if you're under 14.
What a tragic story.
I've never understood how one could hit and run over a pedestrian and never know it.
He said he smelled something burning. He doesn't know what the smell of burning flesh is??
The driver must've been high on coke or something to be so clueless about his surroundings.
Actually I have no idea what burning flesh smells like. And I hope I never do. Call me crazy.
i think mano meant without a bicycle bell
or front and tail lights.
what time did this occur? I saw the funniest thing
by the brooklyn bridge at dusk, a tourist had a
blinky type light around her chest.
What are your priorities? To bitch abut the pigs? Oh cry me a river. Someone was killed today, dragged through a borough and you are bitching and whining about being ticketed for riding your fucking tricycle without a helmet? Go drown your sorrows in an energy drink asshole...
You said it!
"It's all about me"is his chief priority.
"I've never understood how one could hit and run over a pedestrian and never know"
In this case, he didn't "run over" the pedestrian; that is, his tires didn't hit anything.
Tragic and bizarre but I can certainly see it happening and the driver not figuring out what was going on. He thought other vehicles were avoiding a pothole or something in the street. He felt a slight bump and thought that was it. No idea what it was, but driving a commercial van hitting some debris in the street probably isn't going to cause a big problem. And driving in NYC, you hit debris in the street all the time.
Later, thinking the van wasn't driving right so maybe whatever he hit did cause some damage, he stopped and got out to check. What would you likely check? The tires. So starting at the left front, then walking to the rear and checking both tires on that side he didn't see anything because he never went to the front of the vehicle.
As for no one noticing and flagging him down during the trip, it happened at 6 am. It was dark. Other vehicles on the road would have a clear view of the rear of his van and of the side while passing or being passed, but not of the front. That view would only be in the rear view mirror, and in the dark they wouldn't see anything but his headlights.
Later, when the sun had started to rise, other drivers did notice and flag him down.
Wow you know a little too much about this. Is there something you would like to confess?
"Is there something you would like to confess?"
Yes, I'll confess: I have the ability, rare among blog commenters, to think things through logically.
I agree with jaycjay -- I have sympathy for the driver of the van, who sounds like he genuinely had no idea what he'd done, but was trying to be responsible. I can see how something like this could happen. What a nightmarish event. A really sad story for everyone involved.
Wow. I can only hope for the sake of the victim that he was dead after the first car hit him. Being dragged to death under a van would be a very bad way to go.
CSI NY just had its next episode written for them.
If I get so much as a piece of cardboard stuck under the car it's impossible to ignore. How can you pull a grown man of let's say 150-80 lbs and not feel the drag on the vehicle? I'm not buying this story.
ditto, drivers know if a cardboard box
is under their car. or a traffic pylon.
this ain't debris. debris is a plastic bag.
Damn. This is no way for anyone to go. Probably wasn't much left of him after 17 miles. What I want to know is why nobody else stopped before this driver him him. They just swerved around the body? No good Samaritan who would check on the guy in the road before somebody else ran over him?
"No good Samaritan who would check on the guy in the road before somebody else ran over him?"
Most likely it was just a matter of moments. He was hit the first driver (who stopped and called 911), a few cars saw him and swerved, then this van. There's no way to know from the articles whether any of those drivers between the two vehicles who struck him either pulled over or called 911.
SUV....not surprised.
as usual the Mayor says nothing,
even with a long trail of blood spanning 2 boroughs.
Ickypoo. Some stories of victims' remains being dragged down interstates for over a hundred miles leaving a potential crime scene (and a definitely unpleasant cleanup) in several states. God bless that poor guy who died and I hope that we learn the truth about what the driver really knew when he "felt that bump".
"No charges are expected for either driver."
Sound familiar? Watch yourselves, fellow pedestrians. We have little or no protection from cars under the laws of this state.