A garbage truck crashed into a car in East Harlem early Tuesday morning, setting off a chain reaction that sent vehicles into sidewalk scaffolding — which then collapsed onto a 75-year-old woman, killing her, police said.
The incident happened Tuesday, Dec. 23, just before 6:30 a.m. at First Avenue and 101st Street, according to the New York City Police Department.
Investigators say a private sanitation truck carrying a 47-year-old driver and a 50-year-old passenger was traveling north on First Avenue when it struck a double-parked BMW. That impact pushed the BMW into a double-parked Ford box truck.
Police said the crash then involved other parked vehicles, ultimately causing the sanitation truck and an unoccupied Kia Forte to jump the curb and onto the sidewalk. The two vehicles struck a pedestrian, along with scaffolding and fencing, before coming to a stop.
Emergency responders pronounced the pedestrian — identified by police as Liang Ying Li — dead at the scene.
The people in the sanitation truck and the other vehicles involved were taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and were listed in stable condition, police said. No arrests have been made, and the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad continues to investigate.
The garbage truck is owned by New Jersey-based waste management company Classic Recycling, according to CBS affiliate WCBS. In a statement Wednesday, Dec. 24, a company spokesperson said, “We are still gathering the circumstances of this tragic accident and are unable to provide any information at this time.”
The New York City Department of Buildings said the collision knocked out about 80 feet of scaffolding, but the building itself was not damaged, ABC affiliate WABC reported.
Neighbors told NBC affiliate WNBC that Li was a familiar presence in the area and often cared for the block’s flowers.
“You would see her every morning go to the hydrant with her bucket, she could barely pick it up,” Jose Martinez said, “and she was still making the effort of taking care of the neighborhood.”
Another resident, Stanley Johnson, told The New York Daily News that Li’s husband was not allowed by authorities to view her body, describing the scene as too graphic. He said Li was often seen outside with a shopping cart — and that it helped her husband realize what had happened.
“She would be out here every morning with her shopping cart,” Johnson said. “And that’s how her husband knew it was her. When they showed him the shopping cart, he collapsed.”
