A worker replacing a billboard outside Victoria’s Secret flagship store in Midtown Manhattan fell to his death after his lift was struck by an MTA bus, police sources said Monday.
Vladimir Cruz, 39, was in the bucket of a boom lift “protruding into the roadway” as he worked outside the store on Fifth Ave. near E. 51st St. around 9:35 p.m. Sunday, an NYPD spokesperson said.
While replacing the billboard, the lift was struck by a 44-year-old man driving an M1 bus. Cruz fell from the lift to the pavement.
Cruz suffered head and body trauma from the fall and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he later died.
The bus driver remained at the scene and was not immediately facing charges. No passengers on the bus were hurt, according to an MTA spokesperson.
Cruz lived in the Melrose section of the Bronx, police said.
