Flags are flying at half-staff at all city buildings across the five boroughs to honor a Department of Sanitation veteran who was killed in the line of duty in Northeast Queens on Saturday.
Mayor Eric Adams and DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch rushed to the Queens East Garage on Sept. 21, where 54-year-old Richard Errico fell from the cab of a vehicle he was operating at around 5:43 p.m.
Errico was making a U-turn at the facility at 75-05 Douglaston Pkwy. and was crushed by the 65,000-pound 2018 Mack Heil truck.
The 19-year DSNY veteran, a married father of two daughters from East Meadow, was working alone when the freak accident occurred, police said.
“Our thoughts are with Richard’s family, friends, coworkers, and everyone who knew and loved him,” Adams said. “I met with Richard’s family tonight and shared how deeply sorry I was for their loss. Richard kept our streets and communities safe and clean for more than 19 years, and we should all be keeping Richard and his family in our prayers.”
Police from the 105th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision at the location and found Errico unconscious and unresponsive lying on the ground with trauma to his head and body. EMS arrived and pronounced Errico dead at the scene.
“Our department mourns the loss of Sanitation Worker Richard Errico, a 19-year veteran who served the people of Douglaston, Little Neck and Bayside as one of the Strongest,” Tisch said. “He did it proudly. I ask all New Yorkers to pray for his family — for Carol, Brooke, Paige and Tommy, as Mayor Adams and I did. May Richard’s memory be a blessing.”
An investigation by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad determined that Errico was making a U-turn from northbound to southbound in front of the garage when midway through the turn, with the steering wheel fully defelected to the left, Errico tumbled out of the driver’s seat and was subsequently run over by the front and rear wheels of the vehicle.
“He, like 8,000 uniformed sanitation workers, went to work every day to make a difference in their communities,” Adams said. “New York’s Strongest work tirelessly every day in incredibly difficult and taxing jobs.”
Tisch briefed the Mayor before he met with Errico’s family. Afterward, he ordered flags and stationary flagstaffs at government buildings across the city to be lowered to half-staff in his honor and called on all New Yorkers to support DSNY workers at this difficult time.
“Too often, we don’t stop to thank them for all they do to make our city a better place for us all to live,” Adams said. “Next time we see one of our trucks pass by or a sanitation worker keeping our neighborhood clean — let’s all give them the thanks and recognition they deserve.”
There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad.
