A 44-year-old man fatally run over by a truck driver — who checked to see what he’d hit before callously driving off — was just three blocks away from the Upper East Side Home Depot where he was heading to work when he was crushed under the rig, his devastated family said.
Terrill Jenkins was in the crosswalk at E. 61st St. and Lexington Ave. about 4:45 a.m. Friday when a dark green-and-red oil truck backed over him, according to a criminal complaint against the driver, 33-year-old Vincent Spano.
Spano drove forward, parked the truck at the corner, and got out to check on Jenkins before getting back into the truck and driving off, the complaint states.
The driver “thought about himself and didn’t do the moral thing,” the victim’s cousin, Peter Mulligan III said, adding that he found several aspects of the driver’s behavior puzzling.
“He was driving in reverse. Why are you going fast?” the cousin asked. “No matter how big the truck is, I’m backing up extra cautious.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Police investigate at the crash scene on East 61st St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan on Friday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
After the horrifying encounter, Jenkins was able to call his coworkers at the Home Depot while phasing in and out of consciousness, his family told the Daily News in an exclusive interview.
Jenkins’ coworkers rushed out of the store to look for him but didn’t know where he was, prolonging his agony, said the victim’s uncle, Peter Mulligan.
Instead of getting help right away, Jenkins “had to wait for someone to see him laying on the ground,” to call 911, the uncle said. “We want justice,” adding: “We would like to see the video, exactly what took place.”
First responders found Jenkins crumpled in the roadway, suffering from massive injuries across his body. EMS rushed Jenkins to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he died of his injuries about three hours later.
The driver “thought about himself and didn’t do the moral thing,” the cousin said, adding that he found several aspects of the driver’s behavior puzzling.
“He was driving in reverse. Why are you going fast?” he asked. “No matter how big the truck is, I’m backing up extra cautious.”
Jenkins’ death is “devastating,” for the family, especially for Jenkins’ mother, who lost her only other son years ago, said the cousin, who grew up with the victim.
“This is a big extended family. They grew up here in St. Nicholas and have been through so much,” the cousin said from the family’s home in Harlem.
Courtesy of family
Terrill Jenkins was fatally struck by a truck driver on E. 61st St. and First Ave. in Manhattan on Friday. (Courtesy of family)
Jenkins’ brother died of pneumonia in the 1990s at 19-years-old, the cousin said.
“His brother passed away years ago,” Jenkins’ uncle said. Terrill and his mother “went through that together, leaned on each other, just them two.”
“He didn’t bother anybody. He just worked,” the cousin said about Terrill. “He went through what he went through, persevered with his mom and stayed out of the way living his life.”
“This is a proud family. Very hardworking. Did everything the right way,” the cousin added. Jenkins had just received a certificate for working at the Home Depot for eight years last month.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
The NYPD Highway Patrol investigates on East 61st Street and Lexington Avenue on Friday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Jenkins typically left for work very early in the morning, according to his mother.
“He normally leaves around 3:30 [a.m.] to get to work, so I didn’t see him leave,” said Evelyn Jenkins, the victim’s mother.
Jenkins would text his mom when he got to work, the mother said.
“He always texts me. He always does,” the distraught mother said.
When she didn’t get a text that morning, she said she didn’t worry, however. “It didn’t bother me that he didn’t text that day because before I could wonder why, I got the phone call,” the grieving mom said.
“We want to know exactly what took place,” she added.
Spano was arrested around 7 a.m. Friday after he turned himself in at the NYPD’s 76th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn and told police he was responsible for the deadly collision, cops said.
He was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and failure to exercise due care. Spano admitted to police that he realized he struck something and observed the injured man before getting back in the truck and driving off, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Spano, who is from Palm Harbor, Fla., was granted supervised release by Judge Jeffrey Gershuny at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court late Friday.
Jenkins’ family was outraged by Spano’s supervised release.
“They released him… I don’t understand why they would release him, especially without bail,” his uncle said. “Especially since they said he was from Florida. He could be on the next bus or train to Florida and we wouldn’t see him again. So I don’t understand why the judge did that.”
Spano is due back in court on May 6.