A Bronx car wash worker was fatally struck by a hit-and-run SUV driver as he was drying a customer’s vehicle, cops said.
The worker was using a cloth to shine a black Toyota RAV4 just outside the 24-hour car wash on Webster Ave. near E. 167th St. in Claremont when he was fatally struck about 5:20 a.m., police said.
The worker, dressed in a blue jacket and reflective vest, was wiping down the driver’s side of the SUV after it pulled out of the car wash into a bus lane.
In a flash, a Ford Escape driver barreling down the bus lane plowed into both the worker and the vehicle he was cleaning, sending the Toyota careening into a sign for the car wash, shocking surveillance video tweeted by a 1010 WINS reporter shows.
Cops said two women bailed out of the Ford and ran off, leaving the worker to die. Police were still searching for them Sunday.
The Toyota driver, who suffered minor injuries, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.
Medics took the car wash worker to Lincoln Hospital but he couldn’t be saved. Police have not yet released his name.