Neal Patel was dragged 10 feet before being run over by the trailer truck.
An Indian American man met a tragic end when he tried to take a shortcut and scooted under a parked trailer truck. Princeton, NJ, resident Neal Patel, 30, succumbed to his injuries at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s intensive care unit in New Brunswick on Saturday.
The incident happened last Tuesday. According to mycentraljersey.com, Patel was run over by a tractor trailer when he tried to crawl under the vehicle trying to take a short cut.
Police said Patel was with a friend when the two left the Wick Plaza in New Jersey and headed to the local motel Global Inn, across Route 1. He tried to scoot under a parked tractor-trailer in order to take a shortcut, while his friend walked around the big vehicle. The trailer driver, who is from Farmington Hills in Michigan, unaware of a man crawling under his vehicle, suddenly started his vehicle and drove away. Patel was dragged for 10 feet and run over by the rear tires of the big vehicle.
Initially, Patel was listed as critical in the hospital but he could not survive his injuries.
The driver of the tractor trailer will not be facing any charges in the incident. The Edison Township Police Department said that the driver, who police located hours later in Philadelphia, returned voluntarily to Edison to assist with the investigation.