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Good Samaritans Lift SUV Off Woman in Fatal Midtown Crash, Witnesses Say

By  Ben Fractenberg and Julia Bottles | June 6, 2016 5:20pm 

 A woman was fatally injured after being struck by a SUV on 38th Street and Eighth Avenue Monday afternoon, fire officials said.
A woman was fatally injured after being struck by a SUV on 38th Street and Eighth Avenue Monday afternoon, fire officials said.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

MIDTOWN — About a dozen good Samaritans lifted an SUV off the ground after it fatally struck and pinned a female pedestrian under its back wheel in Midtown on Monday afternoon, according to the FDNY and witnesses.

Yuenei Wu, 67, was was walking across Eighth Avenue in the crosswalk when she was struck by a black Chevrolet Suburban that was making a left turn onto Eighth Avenue from 38th Street at about 4:30 p.m., the NYPD said.

Wu was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital and the driver who hit her, Edip Ozlemis, 39, was arrested Monday for failure to yield to a pedestrian, police said.

UPS worker Gregory Granger, 53, was delivering packages when the SUV struck Wu.  

"I heard screaming and I ran over," Granger said. "I just grabbed the back bumper and yelled for people to lift the car."

About a dozen pedestrians ran over and helped lift the vehicle at least three feet off the ground, Granger added. 

Adam Smith, 37, then pulled the woman from under the wheel and tried to console her while help arrived. 

"I put my arm underneath her head. I held her wrist," Smith said. "I just told her, 'It's gonna be OK. Your family loves you.'"

Smith said that Wu, who lived in Brooklyn, appeared to still be alive at the time but was "incoherent." 

Adam Smith

Adam Smith, 37, tried to console a woman after she was struck by a vehicle in Midtown Monday afternoon. (DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg)

James Green, 52, also helped lift the vehicle.

He said the driver dragged Wu a few feet until he heard people screaming for him to stop. 

"I think he was having a nervous breakdown," Green said about the driver. "He was going into shock."

Eighth Avenue was closed down from 38th to 39th streets Monday evening while investigators examined the scene.