A teenager died in the Bronx early on Sunday after a bizarre accident that led to him being crushed beneath the wheels of a flatbed trailer.
The incident happened on Sunday, September 4th at around 12:30 a.m. in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City.
According to Daily News, the 17-year-old boy climbed on top of an unhooked dry van trailer parked on East 138th Street near Walnut Avenue. Investigators say the boy then suddenly lost his footing and fell off the trailer and onto the back wheels of a lowboy trailer attached to a passing semi truck heading west on E. 138th Street. Police say the boy was then squeezed between the rear wheels and subsequently run over. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 42-year-old flatbed trucker kept going for a few blocks before stopping at Bruckner Blvd. He remained on the scene, cooperated with police, and has not been charged.
The boy was identified as Daniel Hernandez, and had been living alone on the Upper West Side since his father was hospitalized for a series of strokes two months ago, neighbors in his building said. The neighbors say they all tried to watch over the boy, and one even spoke to him just before he left the building for the last time.
“He gave me a hug,” said another neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous. “I said to him, ‘Be careful.’”
Yet another neighbor, Daisy Otero, says the boy’s death is “stomach-crunching.” “What a horrible way to die,” 70-year-old Otero said. “He was supposed to visit his father today…. He was a good boy, always with his father,” she continued. “His dad’s sun and moon, his everything, was his son.”
Neighbors say that Hernandez had posted on Instagram that he was heading to a party just before he left the building. No further information has been released.
