Posted to NYC News on
By Rocco Parascandola for Newsday

BROOKLYN, NY — 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.

Man Struck in Queens and Dragged 17 Miles to Brooklyn

By Rocco Parascandola for Newsday

BROOKLYN, NY — 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.

“The victim is struck by the first car,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. “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.”

Police said the driver did not see the initial accident, but that when he saw several other cars swerve he thought those drivers were trying to avoid a pothole, not a body.

Kelly said the driver “did stop once during his trip, he reported, but he didn’t see anything unusual and got back in the car.”

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

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8 Comments

  • abe

    To CH INFO:

    I thought your name was Crown Heights Info what has this got to do with CH?

    There is not enough accidents and grief in CH that you have to go looking in other places for sick stories like this?

  • Kaparah

    To Shmuli:

    I don’t understand your question. I’m certainly not in a position to judge a stranger I never met, nor was there anything judgmental in my comment.

  • Shmuli

    To Kaparah:

    What makes you think that he needs a kaparah?

    We are only meant to say that about ourselves, not about others.