iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A civilian employee of the New York Police Department was killed in an accident on a local freeway Wednesday morning when a spare tire fell off a truck and smashed into his car, police said.
The 64-year-old man, who worked in building maintenance at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan, was driving east in a Toyota Rav4 in the high-occupancy vehicle lane on the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn just after 6:40 a.m. ET, when a spare tire suddenly flew off a private sanitation truck traveling in the opposite direction. The tire hit and shattered the windshield of the Toyota, which then collided into the divider, police said.
The NYPD employee suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to New York University Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, where he was later pronounced dead. The driver of the private sanitation truck remained at the scene, police said.
Police are investigating the incident. No charges were initially filed on Wednesday.
Less than a month ago, another New York driver was killed when a tractor-trailer lost a tire on a highway in Long Island.
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