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Pedestrian Killed on East 89th Street

By Amy Zimmer | May 8, 2012 9:21am | Updated on May 8, 2012 12:00pm
This truck reportedly struck a 65-year-old pedestrian at East 89th Street and First Avenue, police and witnesses said.
This truck reportedly struck a 65-year-old pedestrian at East 89th Street and First Avenue, police and witnesses said.
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DNAinfo/Chelsia Rose Marcius

By Alan Neuhauser and Chelsia Marcius Rose

DNAinfo.com New York

YORKVILLE — A 65-year-old man on crutches was killed Tuesday morning crossing East 89th Street at First Avenue when a truck that was stopped at a red light waved at him to pass — only to accidently run him over, police said.

The truck driver signalled the man to walk east across the street as the light turned from red to green. But then another car next to the truck started to go, forcing the man to fall back into the path of the truck's rear tire, police said of the 8:20 a.m. incident.

Thinking the man had completed crossing the street, the truck's driver stepped on the gas and struck him, according to police.

The man, whose identity was not released pending family notification, was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The driver stayed at the scene, NYPD officials said. No criminality was suspected.

Witnesses said they saw the man stuck beneath the rear wheels of an Ace Party and Tent Rental truck.

"I heard [the driver] short stop and the squeak of wheels," said Sam Lamaj, 62, who lives in a second-floor apartment across the street from the scene of the collision and said the victim used crutches to help him walk.

A broken piece of one crutch still lay in the street after the man was taken to the hospital.

Neighbors described East 89th and First Avenue as a busy intersection.

"There's a lot of traffic here at this time of the morning," said Bill Bisceglia, 77, a 20-year resident of East 88th Street. He added, however, that he had never heard of a pedestrian being hit at East 89th.