By Jessica Campbell and Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Staff
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A 70-year-old man was killed after a New York Stock Exchange security truck jumped the curb on Broad Street and slammed into him, officials said.
The victim, Sorel Deps-Medina, a Queens resident, was standing on the sidewalk in front of 45 Broad St., between Beaver Street and Exchange Place, when the silver pickup truck barreled into him just before 1:30 p.m., knocking him to the ground, police and witnesses said.
The victim was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The pickup truck, which belonged to T&M Protection Resources and guarded the Stock Exchange, also grazed a 31-year-old woman, who was taken to New York Downtown Hospital with a leg injury that did not appear to be life-threatening, the FDNY and NYPD said. A 62-year-old man was also hit and was taken to the hospital in stable condition, the NYPD said.
Aigne Goldsty, 22, a paralegal who works nearby, said the man was eating Chinese food in front of Leman Manhattan Preparatory School when the truck rammed into him.
"There's no way he could get out of the way, and that was it," Goldsty said. "There was blood all over."
Witnesses said the victim fell to the ground and was twitching for about 20 seconds, then he went still.
"He was moving, but I don't think he was conscious," said Lucas, who works for a ventilation cleaning business and did not give his last name.
Goldsty said she only just barely got out of the way of the pickup in time, when she heard the injured woman's scream.
"Had I not heard the scream, it could have been me," Goldsty said.
Police said the pickup truck was moving to allow a car into the secure zone around the New York Stock Exchange when it suddenly accelerated and jumped the curb.
The driver, a 50-year-old man, remained at the scene, and no criminality was suspected, the NYPD said. The driver was taken to New York Downtown Hospital in stable condition.
The stock exchange did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Robert S. Tucker, CEO of T&M Protection Resources, said in a statement that the company "is deeply saddened by the tragic vehicular accident that occurred on Broad Street today and is cooperating full with the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and his family."
People who worked in the area said the pickup trucks frequently guard the secure area around the New York Stock Exchange, where the accident occurred, because the turntable checkpoints embedded in the street usually don't work.
The turntables are supposed to rotate to allow cars to pass into the secure zone and then block off the street with bollards, but usually they appear frozen in the "open" position.
When that happens, two pickup trucks block traffic. Whenever a car is cleared to enter the secure zone, the pickup trucks back up or pull forward a few feet to allow the car to pass, as police said the driver was doing Thursday when the accident occurred.
Some local workers blamed Thursday's accident on the malfunctioning turntables, saying the pickup truck would not have been on Broad Street if the turntables were working.
Ricky Lewis, a headhunter who works at 50 Broad St., said the turntables have never worked for more than a few days at a time.
"The only reason this happened is because this thing doesn't work," Lewis said.
