A Marine in town for Fleet Week is dead after being struck by a passing car. The fatal collision has resulted in all 900 Marines visiting New York reviewing street safety procedures, but the collision has not resulted in an arrest.
It happened just before 1:00 A.M. in the southbound lanes of the West Side Highway at 49th Street. The car, a 2003 Acura sedan, struck the 22 year-old Marine after he and some other Marines got out of a taxi. The Marines were trying to cross the West Side Highway to get back to their ship, the USS Iwo Jima, according to the NYPD.
Investigators say that the Marine died at the scene, but that none of his fellow Marines was injured. They say that the 39 year-old driver of the Acura pulled over one block south and called 911. He then walked over to where the Marine was dying, and waited with him for an ambulance to arrive.
“It’s a tough topic for me because it’s the loss of a Marine,” Col. Frank Donovan said before reporters in front of the USS Iwo Jima later Thursday morning. Donovan commands the entire 900-person Marine deployment to Fleet Week. “We ask that all of the citizens of New York keep the family of this Marine in their prayers,” Donovan said.
His office will not release the name of the dead 22 year-old Marine until his family is notified of the death. A Marine Corps spokesperson said that Col. Donovan would on Thursday review city street safety guidelines with all of the Marines under his command.
The Marines would not release any information about plans to memorialize the fallen Marine or to offer grief counseling to Marines affected by the roadway death.
(Source: WPIX)