The badly injured survivor of the incident where a garbage truck ran onto a Midtown sidewalk, killing a vacationing British couple, figures his New York instinct to bypass slow-moving tourists ultimately saved his life. Hollis resident Abayomi Henderson told the Daily News he had just finished working out at a nearby gym when he saw Jacqueline Timmins and Andrew Hardie (pictured) on West 35th St. near 6th Ave. Tuesday night.
The British tourists were in NYC for a Valentine's Day getaway, and Henderson said they were meandering down the sidewalk, enjoying the sights, each other, and the evening, when he came up behind them. As New Yorkers are wont to do, he quickly circled around them when he heard the garbage truck careening onto the sidewalk crushing everything in its path.
Henderson awoke next to Jacqueline Timmins, who was dead. Andrew Hardie was also killed by the runaway truck. The Queens man only suffered a broken arm, hip, and toe.
While Henderson doesn't believe it was anyone's fault the accident happened, the garbage truck driver, Auvryn Scarlett, is being charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment. Scarlett suffered a seizure behind the wheel of the Action Carting truck and admitted to not taking his anti-seizure medication for the last two weeks. Timmins' ex-husband believes that the U.S. should take advantage of its death penalty in this instance and execute Scarlett.
