Lennon pal’s life fight
Friend of former Beatle hit by bus in Bronx
An elderly Bronx man’s decision to walk home from dinner instead of hitching a ride with a friend proved to be a potentially deadly mistake.
George Dingfelder, 78, was struck by an MTA bus Thursday while crossing the street in Morris Park and is now clinging to life at the hospital, his close friend said.
Dingfelder, a retired co-op manager, had stepped out of Golden Eagle Restaurant on Morris Park Ave. near Radcliff Ave. moments earlier around 8 p.m. after a dinner date with friend Louise Schween.
“A friend was going to drive us home, and [Dingfelder] was going to get in the front seat, and then he changed his mind and said he was going to walk,” Schween, 75, told the Daily News by phone.
“My friend was helping him in the car and he said no. He went to the intersection. I said, ’Come on get in the car’ and he crossed the street.”
Dingfelder barely had time to notice the MTA bus speeding by, Schween said.
“This bus came down and and hit George. [The bus driver] doesn’t have to stop for another four to five blocks so he was just barreling through,” she said.
The driver stayed at the scene and was not charged. He was the only person onboard and had the green light, the NYPD said. Police could not immediately confirm if the bus was speeding.
The MTA did not immediately return a request for comment.
Schween, on her way to visit her critically wounded friend Friday at Jacobi Medical Center, recalled a life filled with fascinating adventures.
Dingfelder was close with John Lennon, she said, and shared coffee with the Beatles great at the Cafe La Fortuna on the Upper West Side for many years.
The Central Park eatery was a favorite of Lennon’s, and only a block away from his W. 72nd St. home at the Dakota. It closed in 2008.
“They had coffee every day for 17 years. Friends of George’s owned the cafe. George would go in in the morning before they opened, and John would come in. They would talk about general things,” Schween said.
“George told me that [Lennon] would be doodling on newspapers and writing things down and maybe lyrics for songs, and [cafe employees] would take the papers and throw them away,” she said. “I think maybe they think they should have saved those things.”
The cafe owners’ son was in shock Friday when a Daily News reporter told him the news.
“He’s a personal friend of my parents. He moved into the building right next door to the cafe and he was one of the regular crew we had there. We’re good friends through the years,” said Richard Urwand, 65.
Dingfelder and Schween were neighbors for years. When Schween’s husband died 15 years ago, the two became closer.
The two would drive to Connecticut daily, go shopping and enjoy movies. But Dingfelder’s rheumatoid arthritis eventually put a pause on the joyrides. He never married and has no children.
“He’s asked me to marry him a number of times, but we have two different personalities. We’re as close as almost being married,” said Schween.
She prayed Friday that her closest confidant would pull through.
“He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He doesn’t deserve this and I’m hoping the doctors can do something to give him a good quality of life,” she said.