Early this morning, a pedestrian was struck dead by the driver of an M60 bus in a horrifying accident in Harlem. The NYPD says pedestrian Willie Gonzalez, 25, was run over by the M60 bus around 1:15 a.m. at the intersection of 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, and was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital. Not long after the accident, we received an email from one of the riders on the bus, who describes the grisly experience:
At about 1:15 a.m. (approximately an hour ago), give or take 10 mins., an M60 bus in which I was a passenger, heading west on 125th Street, struck, dragged at least 50 ft., and most likely killed a pedestrian at St. Nicholas. I was sitting in the very last row of the bus, doing a Sudoku puzzle, so I saw absolutely nothing--only heard the ka-THUCK.
I do know the bus didn't run a red light or anything... there was some question as to what the guy was doing in the street (he was in the street to the east of the eastern St. Nicholas crosswalk)—some speculation that he might have been hit by another car first. No idea, and I'm sure there are better eyewitnesses out there—I just happened to be on the bus and thought you'd want to know about it.
The bus driver stayed on the scene, and the NYPD says no charges are expected to be filed. Nor is any criminality suspected in the death of Meilan Jin, a 22-year-old woman who was killed when a Q44 bus struck her as she crossed Northern Boulevard and Union Street in Flushing, Queens. The MTA says the driver was “apparently unaware” that someone had been struck, and police sources say it's unlikely the driver will be charged.
Lin, who worked at a Westchester nail salon, was likely rushing to get to her job when she was killed by the out-of-service bus. Transportation Alternatives spokesman Michael Murphy says that between 1995 and 2009, 92 accidents involving pedestrians have happened at that deadly intersection. "It’s a notoriously high-crash intersection for pedestrians," Murphy tells the Post.
