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Driver With Sick Dog Mows Down Flatiron Workers on His Way to Vet: Police

By Noah Hurowitz | October 1, 2015 7:51am
 Construction workers were hit on East 22nd Street between Broadway and Park Avenue on Sept. 24.
Construction workers were hit on East 22nd Street between Broadway and Park Avenue on Sept. 24.
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DNAInfo/Noah Hurowitz

FLATIRON — A man desperate to get his sick dog to a vet mowed down a pair of construction workers with his car after they refused to let him pass, according to the NYPD.

Jair Freire, 53, was on his way to an animal hospital with his service dog — who was suffering from a chronic heart condition — when he became ensnared in traffic on East 22nd Street between Broadway and Park Avenue just after 10 a.m. on Sept. 24, Freire and police said.

Freire pleaded with a construction worker who was directing traffic at the intersection to let him through, but he was told he couldn't go until a signal was given, he said.

Freire plowed through anyway, hitting one construction worker on his passenger side and another worker on the driver side before taking off, police said.

One worker had an injury to his back and neck and another scraped his elbow when he hit the pavement, according to police.

"They told me 'I don't give an F about your dog,'" Freire said. "They wouldn't let me get by. It was a horrible situation."

He got his pooch to the vet and the pet is "fine," the owner said.

It wasn't immediately clear which construction company the injured employees worked for.

Police caught up with Freire at the veterinary center on the corner of West 15th Street and Fifth Avenue. He was arrested after he was identified by one of the workers who were struck and charged with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, police said.