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Two Killed by Motorists on the Lower East Side, Police Say

By  Lisha Arino Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | November 25, 2014 10:23am | Updated on November 25, 2014 11:16am

 A 57-year-old man was killed when a BMW hit him on the Bowery Monday night, police said.
A 57-year-old man was killed when a BMW hit him on the Bowery Monday night, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

LOWER EAST SIDE — Two pedestrians and a cyclist were killed by cars during a three-hour period Monday night, including one who was struck by a hit-and-run driver, police said.

Two of the deaths were on the Lower East Side, which has seen a string of pedestrian injuries at the hands of motorists over the last year.

In the first accident, Robert Perry, 57, was crossing the Bowery between Rivington and Prince streets about 6:50 p.m. when a 2001 BMW driven by 24-year-old Danny Lin struck him, according to the NYPD.

The car kept going until it crashed into a fire hydrant a block away at Stanton Street, police said.

"He was on his back," witness Indio Bryan, 35, said of the victim.

"One of the ambulance ladies was pumping his chest, but he wasn't moving. They put him on a stretcher, but he was lifeless. You could tell he was gone."

Perry, who regularly stayed at the Bowery Mission, was pronounced dead at Lower Manhattan Hospital, police said.

Lin, of Homecrest, Brooklyn, was arrested at the scene, police said. He was awaiting arraignment Tuesday afternoon on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, officials said.

According to the mission, Perry was a member of the organization's photography club and "faithful participant" in chapel services and activities.

"We're all taking this very hard," said Bowery Mission chief development officer James Winans. "He was a very beloved member of our community."

Bryan said he knew Perry from the mission and had spoken with him just moments before he was hit.

"I couldn't believe it. It was surreal. I'd just seen him five minutes before," he said.

"Everyone [at the Mission] knows him. This has been his home. He eats here, sleeps here. He was a good guy, harmless. He liked jazz a lot."

Two hours later a white van struck Jason Aitcheson, 27, at Utica Avenue and Winthrop Street, police said. Aitcheson managed to grab onto the driver's side handle as the van dragged him down Utica until his foot got caught under the rear tire and tore him off, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Aitcheson, of Canarsie, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, police said.

The driver remained at large Tuesday morning, police officials said.

Then at 9 p.m. a livery cab heading east on East Houston Street slammed into bicyclist Shan Zheng, 61, who had been riding north up Pitt Street, according to the NYPD.

Zheng, of Ossining, was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, police said.

The livery driver, a 50-year-old man whose name was not released, remained at the scene and was not immediately charged, officials said.