By TATIANA DELIGIANNAKIS, MATTHEW NESTEL and DAN MANGAN
Last updated: 6:51 pm
June 27, 2008
Posted: 4:13 am
June 24, 2008
An out-of-control, overloaded dump truck barreled through Chinatown yesterday, smashing into a parked bus that then careened into a woman, killing her, cops said.
The truck went on to hit three other vehicles, including a police car, after spinning the Fung Wah bus, which had been parked illegally to pick up Boston-bound passengers on the Bowery at Canal Street, police said.
"I thought something exploded in the back of the bus," said Remy Rahman, 23, who was waiting to board when the collision occurred at 7:49 a.m.
Jimmy Zocco, 42, was sitting in his van: "I see the yellow [truck] just fly by me, and then I see the impact . . . It actually looked like he lifted [the bus] off the ground when he hit it."
The impact of the bus sent Lai Ho, 57, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, flying into the street. The bus then crashed through the window of United Commercial Bank after jumping the sidewalk and knocking over a traffic signal.
Lai had been walking to her job as manager of the nearby First American International Bank when she was hit.
"Everybody started screaming," said Danny Lara, 23, who saw the bus strike Lai.
Two people on the bus were taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, as was Alejandro Fallo, 54, the dump truck's driver.
Fallo told cops that his brakes failed as he was driving off the Manhattan Bridge and turning on to the Bowery. The truck jumped the sidewalk, knocking over a fire hydrant and dragging it for up to 100 feet, before barreling back into the street and hitting the bus and three other vehicles.
Fallo passed a Breathalyzer test, cops said.
Four people in the three other vehicles were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Cops said that Fallo's truck, operated by CPQ Freight Systems of South Kearny, NJ, was over its legal operating weight with a load of dirt and that summonses would likely be issued. Last night, police had not yet issued any summons for the illegally parked bus.
Lai's son, Paul Yin, said his divorced mom, who had two other adult children and two grandkids, loved to travel and dance.
"She enjoyed life to the fullest," he said.
Additional reporting by Anne Wilner, Marissa Lang, Larry Celona and Peter Cox
tatiana.deligiannakis@nypost.com
