Police from the 111th Precinct in Bayside are working to identify a man who was struck and killed by a dumpster on the morning of Monday, Jan. 24.
Officers responded to a 911 call at 42-32 191st St. at 10:30 a.m. when they discovered a 32-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive with trauma to his head. EMS responded and pronounced the man deceased at the scene, according to the NYPD. A preliminary investigation revealed that a construction dumpster was being unloaded in the driveway of a residential home.
The victim had been struck in the head when the dumpster loading door opened, causing severe head trauma. The operator of the vehicle remained on the scene, police said.
Inspectors and forensic engineers from the city Department of Buildings (DOB) determined that the man had been walking from the rear yard of a neighboring property when he was fatally injured. DOB determined that the fatality was not construction-related and as a result, not within the department’s jurisdiction.
The investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is ongoing and the identity of the deceased is pending family notification.
Meanwhile, the DOB investigation determined the home where the incident occurred had undergone an extensive gut demolition without DOB approvals and permits. The department issued a full stop-work order at the location and issued violations to the owner for illegal work without a permit, failure to properly maintain the property and failure to maintain proper housekeeping.
The enforcement actions taken by DOB are related to the unpermitted demolition work that occurred within the house and they are not related to the fatal incident that occurred outside the home, a DOB spokesman said.
