Trash-truck tragedy
A rabbinical student was struck and killed by a city sanitation truck Sunday while crossing a street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, sources said.
Gedalia Gruntzweig, 25 — who attended a school in Morristown, NJ, and was in Brooklyn for a pal’s engagement party — was walking with a friend when he was hit on Carroll Street near Kingston Avenue at about 9:15 a.m., lawenforcement sources said.
“I heard these terrible screams,” said a witness, Abraham Greisman. “All I saw was the truck, the driver getting out, pacing back and forth. He must have been in shock.”
Securitycamera video from a nearby store showed that the sanitation truck had the green light when it turned right from Kingston onto Carroll, said a resident who lives in the building and saw the footage, which was turned over to police.
But Gruntzweig and his friend also had the “walk” signal when they stepped into the crosswalk, lawenforcement sources said.
The victim was hit by the front of the truck, knocked down and run over by its rear wheels, the sources said. The driver apparently didn’t see the victim, according to the sources.
No summonses were issued to the driver, and he was released.
“The truck made a turn, and boom! Ran over him with both tires. Tragic,’’ said community activist Geoffrey Davis, who saw another video of the incident.
Brooklyn Councilmember Laurie Cumbo said Gruntzweig was originally from Ukraine.
“This is something that is just so tragic for this community, for where he lives and his family abroad as well,” Cumbo said.