Bx. man is killed by truck

AN ELDERLY Bronx man was struck and killed by a private carting truck near his home Friday night, leaving stunned neighbors grieving a beloved figure “whose family was us.”

“That was like my uncle,” a neighbor said of Leon Clark, who lived in the Adams Houses in Melrose. “He was always part of our little circle, sitting outside, drinking on the corner.”

Clark, who is believed to be in his 70s, was crossing Jackson Ave. and E. 152nd St. about 8:15 p.m. Friday when a Sanitation Salvage truck slammed into him, police said.

The truck driver and two workers, who were on a pickup run, stayed at the scene and were not charged.

Clark’s neighbor, who identified himself by his colorful nickname “Chain Dog,” didn’t know Clark died until he saw the crime scene near his home.

“I came outside around 10 p.m. The crime scene tape was up already,” he said. “I just had bought him two cigarettes yesterday morning, bought him some food.”

“It wasn’t his time to go,” the 33-year-old lamented. “As old as he was, he wasn’t sick. No cancer, no diabetes, no health problems.”

“He was as healthy as some of these young people out here,” he said.

Clark had no family, Chain Dog said.

“He been living in the city with no blood family for years. He’s from Jamaica,” said Chain Dog, who wears a thick chain around his neck like MMA Fighter Quentin (Rampage) Jackson.

“His family was us,” he said. “I helped him when he was sick, washed his clothes for him, go to the supermarket with him.”

Clark had moved into the building on Westchester Ave. nearly 20 years ago, said local resident Thelma Williams, 72.

“He was a friendly person,” Williams said. “He drank his little drink. If you needed anything and Leon had it, he would give it to you.”

Neighbors speculated that the sanitation truck was going too fast when it hit Clark.

“Why wasn’t you going slow if you coming in that block to do work?” Chain Dog asked. “I heard a lot of people was going out there trying to jump on him. It was crazy.

The Bronx-based hauling company has been in business for more than 30 years.

According to data released in November, private carters have killed 43 New Yorkers since 2010. There were seven at that point in 2017.