Westbound lanes open on the BQE

  

(New York - WABC, August 28, 2006) (WABC) -- An early morning crash killed a New York City sanitation worker while leaving the garbage truck dangling off the BQE.

Eyewitness News' Ken Rosato has the story.

The garbage truck driver from the NYC Department of Sanitation lost control of the truck. In turn the driver, identified as 25-year-old Michael Occhino went over an overhead guardrail falling 20 feet. The Occhino would later die at Bellevue Hospital.

This all happened about 3:00 this morning along the Promenade adjacent of the BQE. The driver was headed southbound along the expressway between the Brooklyn Bridge exit and the Atlantic exits, that's when he lost control.

Occhino careened out of control and eventually dangling over an overpass on the expressway by Furman Street, a local road underneath.

Commissioner John Doherty: "He encountered a slick roadway. No doubt that he must have slipped."

Debris was being cleared from the road beneath the expressway several hours after the crash near Furman Street in Brooklyn Heights.Westbound lanes on the expressway were shut down near the site.

Department of Sanitation Spokesman comments on the tragic accident.

Harry Nespoll, President, Uniformed Sanitation Accoc.: "It's been a bad two days for the city, first the death of a firefighters and then a sanitation worker. Our hearts go out to their friends and families."

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