NYPD

Driver Struck, Killed While Trying Cross FDR Drive After Car Accident: Police

What to Know

  • A driver who sideswiped another car on the FDR drive was struck and killed after getting out of their vehicle and trying to cross the road
  • The driver sideswiped the car on the parkway around 5 a.m. on Saturday, police said
  • When the driver got out of the car and tried to cross the FDR, he was struck by a third car, police said

A driver who sideswiped another car on the FDR drive was struck and killed after getting out of his vehicle and trying to cross the parkway, police said.

Heward Velez, 50, of New Jersey, was traveling north on the FDR Drive, near the East 96th Street exit, in a Honda Civic around 5 a.m. on Saturday when he sideswiped a Jeep SUV driven by a 37-year-old man, the NYPD said. 

At some point after the two men pulled off to the shoulder and started talking, Velez ran across the northbound lane of traffic, crossed the center median and started to cross the southbound lanes, where he was hit by someone driving a Cadillac SUV, police said. 

It wasn't immediately clear why Velez ran across the parkway.  

Police responding to a 911 call found Velez lying on the roadway unconscious and unresponsive. 

He was taken to Metropolitan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

The Cadillac SUV driver remained at the scene and hasn't been charged. 

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