Haul horror
Trash truck slams, badly hurts gran in B’klyn
A PRIVATE carting company’s garbage truck slammed into an elderly woman as she crossed a Brooklyn street Monday, seriously injuring her, cops said.
The 78-year-old victim was walking across 18th Ave. near E. Fourth St. in Kensington just before 11 a.m. when she was struck by the driver of a MIST Enterprise dump truck making a left turn onto 18th Ave., police said.
Witnesses watched in horror as the victim was pinned underneath a wheel.
“She was screaming. Her flesh was ripped open. Her left leg was smashed,” said one resident who didn’t want to be identified. “It was devastating to see that.”
Medics rushed the victim to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was in serious but stable condition.
A small pool of blood remained on the asphalt where she had been hit.
The truck driver stayed at the scene and passed a breath test, according to witnesses.
A representative for MIST Enterprise interceded when a reporter approached the driver as he sat on a nearby stoop.
“He can’t talk right now. He’s not feeling good,” the company rep said.
An employee at the MIST Enterprise office in Brooklyn hung up when the Daily News called for comment.
No charges were immediately filed.
The truck in Monday’s crash has been cited five times since 2016 for failing to stop at a red light, according to city records.
In the past two years, MIST Enterprises has been involved in two crashes that resulted in injuries, federal records show.
Private garbage trucks have killed 43 people in the city between 2010 and November 2017, according to city records.
The deaths have sparked an outcry from organized labor, which contends private haulers face little accountability from the Business Integrity Commission, the city agency that regulates the industry.
The Daily News reported earlier this month that Sean Spence — a garbage truck driver for Sanitation Salvage who has fatally run down two pedestrians in separate incidents — lied to police about his ties to his first victim.
Spence told police on Nov. 7 that the victim, 21-year-old Mouctar Diallo, was a crazed homeless man who suddenly jumped on the side of his rig before falling under its wheels.
In reality, Diallo worked for Sanitation Salvage and fell off the truck’s side after losing his grip, sources with knowledge of the case told the Daily News.
Spence, 33, also fatally struck a pedestrian in the Bronx on April 27.
“Private sanitation companies in this city treat workers like trash, and Sanitation Salvage is one of the worst,” Sean Campbell, the president of Teamsters Local 813, told The News this month.
“A young man died on the job, people lied about it and no one is being held accountable.”
The Business Integrity Commission said it is currently investigating Sanitation Salvage and its practices.