It was a 64-year-old man fatally struck by a hit-and-run tow truck driver at a Bronx intersection, police said Wednesday.
SM Akhtaruzzaman crossed Bronxwood Ave. at E. 229th St. in Wakefield when the driver of a 2016 Chevy Silverado with a towbar struck him about 12:35 a.m. Monday, police said.
The Silverado driver, who had a green light, turned left onto the avenue. Akhtaruzzaman was in the crosswalk and had his signal on when he was hit, police said.
Startling surveillance video obtained by ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News shows the driver runs over the victim. The driver appeared to slow down and then sped off, blowing the next red light at E. 230th Street, through another crosswalk with a walk signal.
Medics rushed the unconscious victim to Jacobi Medical Center but he could not be saved.
“The impact was so powerful that I thought it was two vehicles hitting each other,” a witness told Eyewitness News. “When I looked up and noticed the guy on the floor, I was just devastated, to be honest.”
The witness says he jumped into his car and followed the truck up Bronxwood Ave. The witness got a license plate number for the police but lost sight of the fleeing driver.
News12 Bronx reported it three tickets for speeding in a school zone was issued to the Silverado in just the last six weeks.
The victim’s daughter, Israd Mana, mourned her family’s loss.
“He was such a nice person,” she told Eyewitness News.
“He was very kind. He was always very respectful. He loved us all so much. He’s so kind that he even feeds stray cats. I can’t tell you enough.”
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