A 7-year-old boy was struck and killed by an MTA towtruck in East Harlem as he jaywalked across an entrance ramp to the Triboro Bridge with his pregnant mother, police said.
Max Mendez was struck while crossing Second Avenue and East 124th Street at around 9:06 a.m.
He was taken to Harlem Hospital in serious condition, but died a short time later. His mother, Erica Lorenzo, is in stable condition at the same hospital. The unborn child was not hurt.
A third person, Jose Javier of the Bronx, was also crossing at the time, but refused medical attention at the scene.
The vehicle — a yellow MTA Bridges and Tunnels tow truck — ran over the kid’s legs after he was separated from his mother, witnesses said.
The MTA said in a statement that the driver was responding to a call at the time of the accident. They did not identify him, but cops have determined that he was not drunk.
“When I heard the mother’s screams, I thought she was getting beaten up,” said Keith Jones, 69, who was on 123rd Street when he heard a commotion.
Jones said he ran over and saw the boy lying face down on the ramp.
“The mother was screaming, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’”
“The kid’s head moved once and that was it,” Jones said, adding that he checked and the boy had a “slight pulse.”
The driver did not make any statements to the police about what happened based on the advice of his union lawyer. Calls for comment to the union, DC37, Local 1931, have not been returned.
“He didn’t come out of his truck,” Jones said of the driver. “It seemed like he was in shock.”