NYPD Van Fatally Strikes Pedestrian While Trying To Beat Traffic Light

Photo: AFP

An NYPD vehicle struck and killed a man who was begging for change on a Brooklyn street Thursday night, according to reports.

The van was traveling on Eastern Parkway when it struck the victim near Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights at about 8:10 p.m., the NYPD said.

The victim, who is believed to have been homeless, was standing at the painted median in the middle of the street when he was hit.

Witness Dequan Bass, 59, tells the Daily News that the man would often stand at the median. When cars were stopped for red lights, he would go around to motorists asking for change to help him get something to eat.

"The light was about to change and the van was trying to make it," Bass told the Daily News. "They came through and hit him. Boom. It was like the sound of two cars crashing."

He added: "I was shouting, 'Yo, you're dragging him!' They dragged him down the block. He was under the van, and I said, 'Yo, he's dead.'"

An officer tried resuscitate the man but to no avail. He was then transported to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.


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