‘THE BABY RAN’ Erika Lorenza yesterday after the accident in which her son Max Mendez was fatally struck by this MTA truck. (
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A pregnant mom watched in horror yesterday as her 6-year-old son was mowed down and killed by an MTA tow truck in East Harlem as they headed to swim lessons.
“I will never recover from the death of my son, but I do want justice,” a devastated Erika Lorenza, 34, of The Bronx, said from her home after the tragic collision near the entrance ramp to the RFK/Triborough Bridge.
Max Mendez, a second-grader at PS 197, and his mother were holding hands on the sidewalk near 124th Street at around 9 a.m. when the truck slammed into them.
They were headed to the Wagner Pool on East 124th Street between Second and Third Avenues.
The impact knocked Lorenza out and left her son splayed across the street and sidewalk.
After Lorenza came to, she saw her son and “I knew he wasn’t going to live,” said the emotional mom, who had been a nurse in Mexico. “I knew that he wasn’t going to live despite what the doctors would do.”
Max was taken to Harlem Hospital and died a short time later.
Lorenza, seven months pregnant, was treated at the hospital for leg injuries and released. Her unborn boy was not injured.
Cops said the yellow MTA Bridges and Tunnels truck was parked on the sidewalk and started moving to respond to a disabled vehicle on the bridge, police at the scene said.
As the truck hit them, Lorenza held on to her son’s hand. “I wouldn’t let go of my son for nothing in the world,” she said.
Witnesses said it appeared that a rear tire of the truck crushed the boy’s legs.
“The kid’s head moved once and that was it,” said witness Keith Jones, adding that he checked and the boy had a “slight pulse.”
A Spider-Man backpack and flip-flops were scattered near the scene.
As paramedics frantically performed CPR to try to revive the boy, Lorenza “semi-fainted.”
Max’s father, Juan, had to explain to his 4-year-old son yesterday that his brother had been killed.
“He cried. He was very sad. He just kept asking for his brother,” he said.
One witness, Fahmi Ald, said Lorenza was screaming, “The baby ran out of my hands!” but the mom said she and her son “were waiting on the sidewalk.”
Onlookers told her the driver was looking back to make sure there was no oncoming traffic and was chatting on the phone.
But a police report does not say the driver was on the phone.
The distraught 39-year-old driver, who stayed at the scene, has not been identified. He tested negative for alcohol, and no criminality is suspected.
Additional reporting by Tom Namako, Lorena Mongelli and Rebecca Harshbarger