NYPD: Man Struck, Killed By Sanitation Truck Driver In Wrong-Way Crash
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A sanitation truck driver was charged following a deadly crash in Brooklyn Thursday morning.
Police say the 33-year-old driver, identified by the Department of Sanitation as Aaron Gilchrist, failed to yield after he drove the wrong way down a one-way street in Crown Heights just after 6:45 a.m., hitting and killing a 37-year-old man.
"It's really sad to know someone was on their way to work on a regular day and ended in a fatal accident," local business owner Aura Gispan said.
She says she was frightened to see police all over her block when she got close to work Thursday.
Investigators say the victim was walking in a crosswalk near the corner of Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Avenue and had the right-of-way when he was hit by the truck making a right turn in the wrong direction. Gispan's surveillance cameras caught the truck going the wrong way down the one way street and more.
"(It) turned around, apparently to try to act as if it was going in the right direction," she said.
Gispan says she was surprised, but cops weren't.
"One of the detectives said it's not so shocking to him, they see that all the time," she said.
Gilchrist remained at the scene but was arrested several hours after the accident. After working at the Sanitation Department since 2005, he's been suspended.
"We continue to cooperate with the NYPD. In addition, a NYDS investigation is also underway," the department said in a statement sent to CBS2.
