A woman was killed when scaffolding collapsed on her in East Harlem Tuesday morning after it was struck by a van in a chain-reaction crash sparked by a private sanitation truck driver, police said.
The freak chain of events was set in motion when the sanitation truck driver, heading uptown on First Ave., struck a parked and unoccupied Kia Forte van near E 101st St. about 6:25 a.m., cops said. The van was pushed into the scaffolding by the impact, causing the deadly collapse.
The woman who had been walking under the scaffolding died at the scene. Cops were working to determine her identity.
The 47-year-old sanitation driver and the co-worker riding with him, a 50-year-old man, were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.
No charges were immediately filed as the cause of the crash is investigated.
