The driver of a boom crane truck was killed Friday following an accident at a construction site in the Turtle Bay section of Manhattan.
Sources identified the victim as Trevor Loftus.
The accident happened just before noon near East 44th Street and Second Avenue.
Police say the crane suffered some kind of hydraulic malfunction, prompting Loftus to get out and check on it. They say while he was investigating the equipment, the crane collapsed on top of him.
"Hydraulics malfunctioned, and the victim was caught between the knuckle boom and the flatbed itself," said Chief Joseph Carlsen of the FDNY. "We came on the scene. He was trapped in there. We were able to mechanically raise the boom with our jacks and take him out."
"This is not a building that has had significant problems over time," said City Councilman Dan Garodnick of Manhattan. "And again, the problem that was caused today was related to the truck, not to the building itself."
Neighbors said Loftus was an Irish immigrant who lived in this house in Yonkers.
They said he was a nice man and were saddened to hear the news.
"I could not believe it," said one neighbor. "And I guarantee that so many other people around this neighborhood, the same thing."
"Always polite, always a smile on his face," said another.
"I'm in shock. I can't believe that one day, you go to work and you're not here anymore. It's shocking," said a third.
The city's Department of Buildings arrived on the scene and issued an immediate stop-work orderwhile officials investigate the internal workings of the crane.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating.
The site is where a building known as the "Even" Hotel is supposed to go up.