Metro

Deadly wipeout: Van jumps curb at Queens school & kills student

The out-of-control driver.

The out-of-control driver. (Matt McDermott)

TENZIN DRUDAK
Tragic 16-year-old.

TENZIN DRUDAK
Tragic 16-year-old.

HORROR SCENE: A student injured by an out-of-control driver (inset bottom) lies on the ground near auto fluid as pedestrians call for help yesterday. (
)

A popular teenager was killed near his Queens school yesterday when an out-of-control minivan jumped a curb and wiped out a row of pedestrians, officials said.

Tenzin Drudak, 16, was walking along a busy stretch of Thomson Avenue near 30th Street in Long Island City when the driver of a Dodge Caravan lost control and careened onto the sidewalk shortly after 10 a.m.

“It just missed me,” said La Guardia Community College student Branden Gonzalez, 20, who was waiting to cross the street when the minivan came barreling by.

“I was waiting here with about 10 other students to cross the street, and I had my headphones on really loud so I couldn’t hear anything.

“But I had this feeling, something told me to step back. Next thing I know . . . Boom! Everything in front of me gone, smashed.”

Gonzalez said he called police and sprinted over to Drudak and tried to help, but the victim was unresponsive. There was blood all over Drudak’s face, he said.

“The driver hit five people and the car kept going until he hit a tree,” Gonzalez said. “The driver stepped out of the van, not a scratch on him.”

Drudak, a sophomore at nearby Applied Communications HS, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Four other pedestrians, all students at La Guardia Community College, were injured and in stable condition.

Witnesses said Drudak was hit and then dragged by the van after the vehicle crossed oncoming traffic.

The driver was not charged with a crime, although he told cops he lost control after he was reaching for a carton of milk he dropped, sources said.

Students said the intersection is dangerous.

“Cars come at you from three different ways,” said Silvana Barisa, 23, a La Guardia student.

“I’m not surprised. Students always try to cross here, but it’s definitely cross at your own risk,” Barisa said.

The sidewalk is often crowded with students waiting to cross Thomson Avenue after getting off the Q39 bus, locals said. The street also has heavy traffic from the Ed Koch/59th Street Bridge.

Applied Communications Principal Daniel Korb said counselors would be available at the school to help students with the loss.

“We are all saddened at the sudden loss of one of our wonderful youngsters,” Korb said in a letter to parents distributed outside the school.