A man drove a van for nearly 20 miles over New York City roads before he realized that he’d been dragging a body underneath, police said yesterday.
The dead man had apparently been knocked under the van after being hit by another vehicle, police said. His identity remained a mystery yesterday.
For driver Manuel Lituma, it was a routine morning: Get up, hop in the van and drive from Queens to Brooklyn to make deliveries. But when Lituma completed his trek, he realized pedestrians were motioning to his burgundy Chevrolet van, where the victim was lodged. Police said Lituma dragged the victim from Corona to Brighton Beach without realizing it.
“You can’t imagine the shock I felt when I saw the body,” Lituma, 51, said at his Corona home yesterday afternoon. "I was in shock. My nerves. … I couldn’t look anymore.
Lituma was not charged, and neither was the driver, Gustavo Acosta, who first struck the man.
The dead man is Hispanic, about 5 feet 4 inches and in his early 30s, police said. He had no identification, but police were hoping to pull numbers off his damaged iPhone and trace a Western Union receipt. He also had a business card in his pocket, but investigators believe it was given to him.
The bizarre case started in Corona at about 6:12 a.m. when Acosta, heading south on 108th Street near 51st Avenue, struck the victim “pretty hard and ran him over,” Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.
Acosta and another motorist immediately called police, and the second motorist even told police he saw Lituma run over the victim, but when Acosta and police went to look for a body, there was none, and Acosta’s vehicle was not damaged, either.
“He’s believed to have been mistaken at that point,” Browne said.
Lituma, meanwhile, had seen Acosta and the other car swerve, but he thought they were trying to avoid a pothole.
Less than a half-mile away, however, Lituma pulled over, sensing something was wrong with his van. He walked around his vehicle, found nothing and drove off, police said.
He did the same in Brighton Beach, this time checking the oil, too. Finally, at Brighton 10th Terrace and Coney Island Avenue, pedestrians pointed to the van’s undercarriage.
It may never be known which blow killed the victim, but an autopsy today will officially determine the cause of death.
Police said Lituma has a clean driving record.
Police said surveillance video from 108th Street shows the Expedition striking the victim, then Lituma driving over him. A second later, the van disappears and no body is seen. Police also found a worn blue vinyl jacket believed to belong to the victim near Flatbush Avenue.
He needed the iphone app “get the fuck out of the road when big trucks are coming”.
haha, no charges pressed.
Nobody cares about illegal immigrants.
crazy string of events
After being dragged for 17+ miles I’m surprised they had anything to go on for identifying him.
True that, I wonder what kind of speeds we are talking about
Did they really need to note that it was an iPhone?
Well considering Apple paid to have him killed with the phone in his pocket, yes.
lol, minority report.
What a drag…
oh NO!!
:fry:
Ohs no LoL.
Imagine being the cop at the scene…
Some guy: “Yah I’m really sorry, I didn’t see him, I hit him hard.”
Cop: “Hit who?”
Some guy: “The dead guy in the street.”
Cop: “There isn’t anyone in the street”
Some guy: “Well I thought I ran a person over, I even heard him yell “awh shit my new IPhone””
Cop: “umm sir have you been smoking crack today”
Some guy: " No, I swear, ugh what ever forget it I’m out of here"
Cop: “Take care crazy.”
Hour later:
Dispatch: “We have a guy saying he ran over a dude with his van”
Cop: “What the hell, ask the van driver if the guy he hit has a Iphone.”
Those are the most weird things you could have in your pocket it as a 30 year old Hispanic male. A hip iphone, a western union receipt?, and a random business card? Who uses western union besides people sending money to family in mexico or people paying for driving class.
Definitely an illegal alien lol hence no charges filed. I think even if it was a legit person there was no wrong doing.
LOL. Crazy story.