Body Dragged 20 Miles Through NYC

A Queens pedestrian was struck by an SUV this morning and thrown into the path of a van, which dragged his mangled body a gruesome 20 miles before the driver discovered it, cops said today.

The grisly journey left a trail of clothes and blood scattered along the Long Island Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway, the Van Wyck Expressway and the Belt Parkway as drivers desperately tried to flag down the unsuspecting motorist.

Manuel Lituma, 52, told cops he actually pulled over and checked under the hood of his maroon Chevy cargo van because it wasn't handling well - but hit the road again after seeing nothing wrong.

"I looked and I didn't see anything," he said outside his Corona home this afternoon. "I didn't know what happened. I didn't feel anything, I didn't hear anything.

"You can't imagine the shock I felt when I saw the body. I'm just so nervous and very sad."

The victim, who cops have been unable to identify, was hit by the SUV at 6.15 a.m. as he walked across 108th Street at 51st Avenue in Corona, said cops.

The SUV driver stopped to dial 911, and didn't see Lituma's van hit the pedestrian, cops said.

Mystified first responders thought the driver had been mistaken when they failed to find a body or see any damage to the SUV.

Lituma, 52, a freelance deliveryman originally from Ecuador, was already miles away with the body hooked face up on to a metal plate underneath his vehicle.

Cops said the body was only partially clothed - and badly scraped from its heels to the back of its head. Lituma only stopped after noticing shocked people pointing at his van on Brighton 10th Terrace in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, an hour after the accident.

They are trying to identify the victim from a broken iPhone, a business card and a receipt for cash recently wired to Mexico that was found in his pockets
(Source NYPOST)