Cops: Pedestrian hit, dragged for miles (dragged from Queens to Brooklyn)

[THUNDER HANDS]

Source: Newsday

Police are questioning a driver in Brighton Beach after it was discovered he had struck a pedestrian -- 17 miles away, near Shea Stadium -- and unknowingly dragged him into Brooklyn.

The bizarre incident started in Corona at about 6:15 a.m. when the driver of a sport utility vehicle called 911 to report he believed he had just struck someone at 51st Avenue and 108th Street.

Officers who responded found no evidence of an accident, but about 7 a.m. a pedestrian in Brighton Beach saw a dead man under a 1998 Chevy minivan. The passerby told the driver to stop, and police were called.

When officers were dispatched to the area of Neptune Avenue and Brighton 10th Terrace, they found the dead man under the van, police said.
The driver, Manuel Lituma, 52, was being questioned, but it appears he did not realize he had hit the man back in Corona and dragged him under the van onto the Grand Central Parkway, south onto the Van Wyck Expressway and then west into Brooklyn, police said.

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nydrag0212,0,3541331.story

[babylonsister]

1. I'm speechless! What a way to go. nt

[PDJane]

4. I have had part of that experience.

Not, obviously, quite that far...about 75 feet all told. Fortunately, I have no memory of the accident itself, and very few memories of anything, to be honest.

I don't get that "didn't know" thing, however.

[valerief]

2. This is dreadful. nt

[City Lights]

3. Oh gawd, the cops retraced the route looking for body parts.

How horrible.

[NJmaverick]

5. 2 important points

the driver that did the dragging, was not the first to hit the person.

and perhaps the worse part of the story

The commissioner said "the body was significantly damaged" and police were retracing the route to try to find body parts.

[grannie4peace]

6. wow!!!!!

i hope he went fast!:hide:

[chollybocker]

7. Was Robert Novak anywhere near NYC when this happened?

[Uzybone]

8. Here is another link to this bizzare story

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/pedestrian-is-struck-and-dragged-17-miles/?hp&apage=2#comments

[caseymoz]

9. You don't even expect this in New York. (eom)

[Boojatta]

10. Do you mean: "You don't expect this even in New York"?

Or do you mean something like: "You might worry about the possibility of this kind of thing happening in New York, but for some reason you don't actually expect it"?

[dysfunctional press]

11. i witnessed a similar incident when i was in college in cham-bana...

a car hit a homeless guy, and 'dragged' him for several blocks(he was wedged under the car), before he came dislodged on the street in front of our house. it was the first time i had seen a freshly dead corpse up close like that, and it was pretty disgusting- half of his head had been worn off by the street like a giant belt sander, and his brains were half gone.