By Jennifer Glickel, Nicole Bode and Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Staff
UPPER EAST SIDE — A 21-year-old man crossing Madison Avenue near 81st Street was hit and killed by a dump truck early Tuesday.
Jason King, an Upper East Side resident and student at LaGuardia Community College, was in the crosswalk going west on Madison Avenue at 81st Street when he was struck and killed at 6:06 a.m, police said.
King was only steps away from the Madison Avenue bakery where he worked, EAT, when he was killed, workers said Tuesday night.
"He was just an angel, you know? He was never in a bad mood," co-worker and Bronx resident Josephina Medina, 20, said Tuesday, adding that King aspired to be a rock star.
"He was always playing around with us, joking around. He even made up songs about all of us."
Co-worker and Harlem resident Annie Cosme, 23, said that "he always made me smile," adding that they were planning a celebration for King's birthday on Dec. 23.
"Every time I needed someone to talk to, he was always there. It's really sad to see him gone," Cosme said.
The 51-year-old driver of the truck that hit King dragged the body 30 feet before stopping, police said. The driver is not expected to be charged, but may be issued a summons, they said. The driver looked shaken after speaking with police.
Close to two hours after the crash, the man's body lay in the middle of the street, covered in a sheet. His feet were clad in a pair of Puma sneakers, which stuck out from beneath the green sheet. The accident happened across the street from P.S. 6, and a father in a cab covered his child's eyes as they passed the crime scene.
Madison was closed to traffic from 80th to 81st Street while police investigated the scene.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn-based Bavaro Carting Corp., who owned the truck, declined to comment on the crash.
