A truck driver was killed in a freak accident Wednesday morning when a manhole cover exploded, flew through his windshield, and struck him in the head. According to police, José Duran, 35, was driving westbound in the middle lane of the Cross Bronx Expressway around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday when the incident happened. The manhole cover hit him in the head, and Duran collided with another tractor-trailer.
The 31-year-old other driver was unharmed in the incident. Durham, a father-of-three from Massachusetts, suffered massive head trauma and was declared dead at Lincoln Hospital. It's unclear what caused the manhole cover to become airborne, but officials think it may have been dislodged by another truck.
AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair told the Post he had never heard of such an incident happening before: "That’s a tragic, tragic accident," Sinclair said. "I’ve heard of cables shorting out and blowing them into the air, but this is the first I can remember of anything like this."
