THE BRONX — Police were questioning a U-Haul box truck driver after he struck and critically injured a 17-year-old boy in Longwood after fleeing the scene of an earlier crash Friday morning, police said.
The 36-year-old driver, whose name was not immediately released, was taken into custody at the scene after the 8:30 a.m. crash and still awaiting charges later that afternoon, an NYPD spokesman said.
The driver first struck a car near the intersection of Southern Boulevard and Bruckner Boulevard, but continued driving about a mile north up Southern until he reached Barretto Street, police said.
The 17-year-old boy stepped out into the street about mid-block, trying to cross west over Southern at Baretto, witnesses said. A black SUV drove around him, but then the box truck, which was passing through a yellow light, hit him and sent him flying about 10 feet, witnesses said.
The moving truck swerved left to avoid the boy lying in the middle of the road and slammed into a parked gray four-door sedan, spinning it into a shopfont window and spewing debris across the sidewalk, witnesses and police said.
"We heard a big bang — a real big bang. I thought two cars crashed," said Yomaira Santiago, 31, who was managing a Family Dollar across from the crash.
"We ran outside. That's when we saw the body. He had blood coming out of his nose. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing," Santiago said.
The dollar store manager tried her best to help the boy before emergency crews arrived, she said.
"I told him, 'Stay with us. You're too young to die,'" Santiago said.
Graphic amateur video shows a firefighter crouching over the motionless boy to take his pulse. He wore red pants and one of his high-top sneakers was lying next to his backpack nearby.
The boy was critically injured and treated Lincoln Medical Center, NYPD officials said.
The U-Haul driver initially tried to leave the scene until witnesses ran up to him and told him to stop.
"He tried to turn the ignition on. He tried to leave the scene, but we saw him and we told him, 'No, no, no man, you're staying right here. You're not going anywhere,'" said Alex Rodriguez, 41.
The driver eventually hopped out of his truck, Santiago said.
"He was saying, 'It's not my fault. It's not my fault," she said.
He was also treated at Lincoln hospital for minor injuries, police said.
The driver was in police custody, but not immediately charged, police said.
U-Haul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
