Police said a 30-year-old male pedestrian was found dead on the Major Deegan Expressway in Van Cortlandt Park in the early hours of Sunday morning, Sept. 7 and have since said that they are investigating the incident as a hit & run.

 

An NYPD spokesperson said police were alerted to an incident on the Major Deegan Expressway near Exit 12 (Mosholu Parkway) at around 2.06 a.m., and upon arrival at the scene discovered the unconscious and unresponsive person with trauma to the head and body. “They transported the victim to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” a police spokesperson said, later confirming that EMS transported the victim hospital.

 

Police said there are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD’s highway district collision investigation squad. Asked if any vehicles were at the scene at the time the body was discovered, police said a vehicle did not remain at the scene.

 

Later on Sunday, police said that further investigation by the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad revealed that a 23-year-old man had been driving a 2024 Toyota BZ4X northbound on Mosholu Parkway, just north of the Major Deegan underpass when he struck the pedestrian who was in the roadway and initially fled the scene but later returned.

 

With collision investigations, the NYPD handles all criminal aspects of such investigations, while NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) reviews the street design at the locations of such crashes.

 

The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending family notification.

The incident was first reported by News 12 The Bronx.

 

Separately, on Sunday, in an unrelated incident, police said a man armed with a butcher knife walked into the 73rd Precinct in Brooklyn which covers the northeastern area of Brooklyn including Brownsville and Ocean Hill on Sunday and attacked a female police officer in the face with the knife. Following an initial altercation where the officer fought him off, and a subsequent foot pursuit, the suspect was later shot by police and is deceased. Th officer is recuperating in hospital.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.