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Woman Struck and Killed by City Bus in Jackson Heights

By  Ben Fractenberg and Janon Fisher | February 3, 2014 6:41pm | Updated on February 3, 2014 7:32pm

 A woman was struck and killed by a city bus at 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue Monday Feb. 3, 2012.
City Bus Kills Woman in Jackson Heights, Police Say
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QUEENS — A woman was struck and killed by a city bus at a busy intersection on Broadway in Jackson Heights Monday night, officials said.

The Q53 bus making a right turn onto Broadway heading south struck the woman near 74th Street about 6 p.m, a Fire Department spokesman said. The 39-year-old driver the bus was not charged, police said.

Investigators had yet to determine the woman's identity, an NYPD spokesman said Tuesday morning.

The front window of the bus next to the driver was cracked from the impact and the body of the woman lay under the vehicle near the right front tire a half-hour after the crash.

Commuters heading home after work saw the crash and immediately alerted police, but the woman could not be revived, witnesses said.

"People started screaming," Carlos Mesia, 28, who saw the woman hesitate before stepping into the street.

He turned away for a moment and heard the bus's brakes screech. When he turned back, the vehicle rocked like it had just hit a bump.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, was killed at a busy transit hub where the 7, E, F, M and R trains intersect and straphangers often dash into traffic to make their trains. There is also heavy bus traffic at a depot nearby.

These factors, combined with the fact that there is no traffic light at 74th Street and Broadway, make for a very hazardous intersection, residents said.

"It's dangerous," Yissel Mendez, 28, said. "There's no light there. They should put a light there."