A 16-year-old boy died and four college students were hurt when they were struck by a minivan that jumped a curb near a community college campus in Queens Monday, police and school authorities said.
Authorities said the teenage boy was pronounced dead at the hospital after he and the others were struck near Thomson Avenue and 30th Street. The Department of Education said he was a student at the High School of Applied Communication on Thomson Avenue.
Four of the pedestrians struck are students at nearby LaGuardia Community College, spokeswoman Susan Lyddon told NBC 4 New York. They were taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition, police said.
Caution tape cordoned off the area surrounding the maroon minivan that hit the pedestrians, which appeared to slam into a tree after the driver lost control and jumped the curb, police said.
Witnesses said it looked like the driver tried to hit the brakes.
"He was trying to stop. I was watching his leg as he was trying to hit the brakes," Naya Moss, a first-year student at the college told NBC 4 New York.
"I definitely saw his foot try to hit the brake," said Jason Martinez, another student. "He was giving it everything he had."
The driver was issued a summons for not having insurance, police said.
