Update: Driver Arrested For DWI After Fatally Dragging Man Under Tour Bus

A tour bus driver was charged with a DWI and arrested yesterday after he fatally ran over a pedestrian in Hell's Kitchen. Fifty-seven-year-old driver Steve Drappel hit the 29-year-old victim as he was walking eastbound across Ninth Avenue at 47th street just before 10 p.m. last night, and witnesses say the victim was pinned under the bus' wheel, and dragged for half a block: “I saw him lying under the back wheel and he was moving, but then the cops made the bus driver move the bus back and then he died. They put a sheet over him...It was horrible. I’m visiting New York City. This is my fourth day here and this is the second death I’ve seen,̶ eyewitness Ashley Fishner told CBS.

We received this tip from a reader around 10:23 p.m. last night: "Someone got hit/dragged by a busload of Asian tourists on 9th Ave just south of 47th, around 10pm tonight. Gruesome...didn't see it myself but a giant wet trail leading from middle of ave to back wheel of stopped bus, complete with bits of flesh...nypd/fynd everywhere." Witnesses told the News that there "was a woman who screamed at the top of her lungs" on the scene, and that it was a "bloody mess." The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he died. None of the passengers on the Travel Lynx tour bus were injured in the accident.

Drappel failed a breathalyzer test last night, and was taken into custody; this morning, he was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI. Travel Lynx is based out of North Carolina, and has no other record of crashed or accidents in the last two years. In March, a tour bus which was speeding overturned on the southbound New England Thruway in the Bronx, killing 15 people.

Update: As a tipster points out, there's a Steve Drappel who is also from West Palm Beach, FL (the same as the arrested one) who likes the "I HATE PEOPLE WHO CAN'T DRIVE FOR SHIT" group on his Facebook page.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on May 8, 2011 9:35 AM

Comments [rss]

angry_pickle

The victim is from Philadelphia not New York. And the ABC articles says the driver's coffee mug had vodka inside.

randomtransplant

A New Yorker is dead.

Who gives a damn what a tourist said? You don't want the tourists to talk, stop having deadly accidents in broad daylight which should be preventable.

Are they devoting as many police resources to the tour bus crackdown as the biking crackdown? If I were a tourist reading the media, or a local, I would assume they weren't.

IoveShoes

that's terrible!

soxinthecity

That tourist is probably full of shit.

dogbertt

So what was the first death this tourist saw this week?

dollarmenu

Probably just a homeless man sleeping outside the Port Authority bus terminal.

loisaida

i was there when it happened. so fucking heartbreaking. the street was blocked off. absolutely awful. RIP Timothy.

sarahsalas1

These drivers should be reported i have found a place where we must report them its www.driver-ratings.com

fosiacat

i applaud your vigilance. reporting things to websites is hugely important in stopping these problems. much like online petitions are critical for making people feel like they are involved and helping a cause.

WesternQueensLand

New York Visitors:/

Please walk through the city and/

See it like humans/

#haiku

k3ll3s

whoa...terrible about the TOURIST who had to witness 2 deaths in 4 days while in NY. The article said tho' that the DWI driver was from FLA. and it was a TOUR BUS involved in the accident. A worse scenario would be if said tourist drove into NY in her pickup, ran over someone then proclaimed "gosh darnit! people sure drive badly in New York City!"

PFOOMA

what?

k3ll3s

uhh...

Killer Tour Bus + Tourist Complaining = Irony?

oh NVM!

wow it's a beautiful day out!

Look a bird!

farleft

What?

Fronko

How many dozen people have been killed or injured this year by trucks, buses, and cars on city streets and highways? Too bad the NYPD is busy ticketing cyclists for speeding in Central Park or stopping in bike lanes to grab a Papa John's pizza on the taxpayers' dime.

Elderta2

Wow, I feel bad for that tourist who saw two deaths in four days! What was the first death she saw? I've been here over 25 years and have never seen anyone die. Weird.