By Colleen Long, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - A delivery man's 30-kilometre sojourn through the boroughs of New York City ended in horror Wednesday when suspected car trouble revealed the scarred body of a man who'd been dragged under his van for nearly an hour.
Manuel Lituma Sanchez was driving through Queens early in the morning when he passed through an intersection and over a pedestrian lying in the street who, moments earlier, had been struck by an SUV.
That's where police believe his delivery van snagged its gruesome cargo, which a stunned Sanchez, fearing engine trouble, later discovered under his van - largely intact but horribly battered.
The man's heels were shorn off. His clothes and several layers of skin on his legs and buttocks had been worn off. The back of his head was worn through.
A business card, Western Union receipt and a broken iPhone were found in the man's pockets, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
Police said the gruesome episode was accidental and they have no plans to charge the drivers at this time.
The man, whose identity has not been released, was first hit around 6:15 a.m. in the Corona section of Queens by the driver of a black Ford Expedition, Gustavo Acosta, who immediately called 911.
When police arrived, the victim was gone.
Lituma Sanchez, who was about two vehicles behind, said he had noticed cars swerving but didn't see the initial accident and assumed the drivers were simply avoiding a pothole.
He drove over the victim, who was facing up, and the man's chest was hooked by a steel plate under the van known as the skid plate, used to protect the transmission and undercarriage.
It's not clear whether the victim was alive at that point.
Lituma Sanchez stopped shortly after the accident to check his car but noticed nothing and went on his way.
The vehicle has a low ridge around the wheels for stepping inside, making it difficult to see under the van.
Sanchez drove on the Grand Central Parkway, the Van Wyck Expressway and the Belt Parkway, winding from Queens to Brooklyn and ending up in Brighton Beach, where he works as a delivery man, Browne said.
On the residential streets at a slower speed, he suspected something was wrong with his engine, and he stopped, opened the hood and checked the oil. But he didn't look under the car.
He got back in and drove a few more blocks before a pedestrian flagged him to say something was dragging under his 1998 Chevrolet van.
Sanchez got out of his car again, looked underneath, discovered the body and called 911 from his cellphone.
Almost sound like a double parachutes failure.
