by Kelda Doherty
Sixteen year old Renee Thompson had just finished her shift at Dylan’s Candy Bar in Manhattan’s Upper East Side when she was struck by a tractor-trailer on Third Avenue and killed. The young girl who was on her way home to Morris Heights, the Bronx was making a right turn on a green light onto Third Avenue from East 60th street when the 18-wheel trailer-truck struck her down in the cross walk as she was crossing west over the avenue at approximately 10:18pm. Thompson died at the scene when the vehicles right rear wheels ran over her.
The teenager was entering her senior year in Coalition High School and had been working at the Candy shop as a cashier for the summer while also attending summer classes at Hunter College.
The driver, a 36 year old from Corona, came to a stop at Third Avenue and 60th and remained at the scene to be questioned by police. He was not placed under arrest but was ticketed for not exercising due care and bringing an unregistered vehicle onto the road.
