Garbage truck kills woman chasing her dog

Jacqueline Haeflinger

It was every dog owner’s worst nightmare.

An NYU administrator was out for a morning walk with her pup, Violet, on Wednesday when the Boston terrier broke free and sprinted under a parked garbage truck.

Jacqueline Haeflinger, 58, ran to the back to get her, but the driver never saw the woman — and she was instantly killed when he backed up.

The tragedy happened at 10 a.m. on West 15th Street and Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, just steps from Haeflinger’s home.

Seconds before she was hit, a second sanitation worker who jumped out to pick up trash desperately tried to warn both the woman and his driver — but they could not hear him.

“The co-driver was waving his hands at the driver, telling him, ‘Stop! Stop!’ ” said Ed Sanders, 48, a personal trainer who witnessed the tragedy.

“He didn’t hear him. When he stopped, it was too late.

“He got out of the truck. He grabbed his head. He was really upset as if to say, ‘What did I do?’ The co-driver was yelling at him, ‘I tried to stop you!’ ”

The dog, named for the NYU sports teams, was still on her leash and unharmed when cops retrieved her.

Haeflinger and Violet were described as neighborhood fixtures.

Witnesses say the woman ran into the street to save her dog.William Farrington

“I would see her walking the dog every day in the morning and at night,” said Jeffrey Purfield, 25, who delivers balloons in the neighborhood.

Alec Tabak
“She was very pleasant, happy and outgoing. She’d say hi, and we talked about the weather.

“You could see she cared a lot about her dog. It seemed like a mutual friendship. The dog seemed to be happy and calm,” Purfield said.

“She seemed happy and calm, too. It was always her and her dog. I am not shocked that she went under the truck to get her dog. The dog was like family to her.”

Haeflinger’s Facebook page is filled with pictures of the dog, including one of Violet in a purple sweater.

“I can’t believe this,” said a friend, Robert Gioria, 51.

“I am totally numb right now.”

Haeflinger worked for 18 years as the school’s associate director for university events. Her duties included planning commencements, convocations and visits by dignitaries at campus locations in New York and abroad.

“She was a devoted, longtime member of the NYU community whom many of us — myself included — knew well and admired, not only for her hard work and exacting standards but for her commitment to make every NYU event warm, gracious and memorable for students, families and faculty,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said in a statement.

A Sanitation Department spokesperson said simply, “One of our collection trucks was involved in a fatal accident this morning, and the investigation is ongoing.”

Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick