A 19-year-old is dead after police said his father accidentally struck him with a cherry picker in Manhattan. The deadly accident happened around 8:30 a.m. Friday on East 7th Street and First Avenue in the East Village.

“The driver of the crane, I guess he wasn’t hearing him well enough or he wasn’t paying attention and he hit the throttle too hard and the crane went too fast, killing the guy,” said Troy Lorenzo, who witnessed the tragic collision. 

Investigators say the teenager was helping his 42-year-old father navigate the intersection when he went in reverse and accidentally ran over his son.

“It’s horrible. I mean obviously for the father to go through what he has to go through now, and to live with what he has to live with, it’s a terrible situation for him and the whole family,” Lorenzo said.

Lorenzo said while accidents like these are tragic, they’re not entirely uncommon.

“I’m a contractor, I’m in the construction field, I’ve been in situations like this. I’ve seen people die on jobs where they fell from scaffolds and roofs and things like that, explosions. It’s something I’ve seen before, but it’s not something you can get used to.”

This deadly collision is one of three in the city in a 24-hour period. On Thursday night, a driver allegedly struck and killed a 72-year-old woman in a hit-and-run in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. And Friday morning, police say the driver of a pickup truck struck and killed a pedestrian in the crosswalk at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

The organization Transportation Alternatives released a statement in response, “These deaths come one day after Mayor Eric Adams announced new major budget cuts for New York City, including a 5% cut for every city agency. This will threaten the Department of Transportation’s ability to build critical street safety infrastructure and meet the goals of Vision Zero.”

It’s not yet clear what building the father and son were working on or what company they worked for. At this time, the father is not facing any charges.