After being struck by one car, a man was dragged by a second vehicle through 17 miles of highway from Queens into Brooklyn early this morning. Police have not been able to identify the man who was originally struck by the SUV at 6 a.m. in Corona, not far from Shea Stadium and would not be discovered until the van's driver arrived in Coney Island an hour later. Along the way, the body was dragged from the Grand Central Parkway to the Van Wyck Expressway and then onto the Belt Parkway before other motorists flagged the driver down.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke to the press describing the incident:
"The victim is struck by the first car. That driver reports that he believes he struck somebody, but apparently right after he strikes the individual the body is hit again by another vehicle and dragged a total of what appears to be 17 miles until eventually that driver stops...(The driver) did stop once during his trip, he reported, but he didn't see anything unusual and got back in the car."
The victim had originally been trying to cross 108th Street near 51st Avenue and was eventually discovered on on Brighton 10th Terrace. The Daily News says that the driver smelled something burning, but was not sure what it was. City Room describes that the body was stuck lying "parallel to the car, the head and shoulders protruding from beneath front bumper."
A witness in Coney Island said she recognize the maroon Chevy van belonging to Cancun Express car service. Its driver, identified as Manual Gaspar Latuna Sanchez, believed that drivers in front of him were trying to avoid a pothole when they were likely steering clear of the body after it had been struck by the SUV. No charges are expected for either driver. Kelly also said that a cadre of uniformed police officers was retracing the van’s route in search of body parts and articles of clothing.
