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Woman Loses Leg to Cement Mixer in Upper East Side Traffic Accident: Police

By  Tanay Warerkar and Janon Fisher | January 18, 2014 3:06pm 

 A pedestrian was struck and killed by a dump truck Saturday morning at the corner of 68th Street and Second Avenue, authorities said.
Upper East Side Traffic Fatality
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UPPER EAST SIDE — A woman crossing Second Avenue Saturday morning was struck and dragged by a cement mixer, severing her leg below the knee, police said.

Ernesto Mejia, 52, of Jackson Heights, was turning right on the avenue from 68th Street in a Queens Ready Mix Concrete Company truck about 10 a.m. when he hit a 63-year-old woman who was crossing Second Avenue, the driver said.

"I didn't see her. I didn't see anything," Mejia said after the crash. "I'm not an aggressive driver. I don't know how this happened."

After he made the turn, a pedestrian waved for him to stop, that's when he heard the woman's screams.

"I got out of the truck and held her head," he said. "She was screaming. I just said 'Oh, my God. Oh, my God.'"

He said that the woman was lying under the cement mixer in agony when he came to her aid.

Mejia said that several passersby also came to her aid before the ambulance arrived.

"I've answered all the police questions," he said. "At the moment, I'm nervous and scared. I'm really sorry for her. I want to know how she didn't see my truck, such a big truck?"

Police are still investigating the crash.