A pedestrian was struck by a sport utility vehicle on a street in Corona, Queens, on Wednesday morning, then immediately struck again by a cargo van that dragged the victim 17 miles through a web of city highways and to Coney Island in Brooklyn, the police said. The pedestrian, apparently a male, was killed.



The victim had not yet been identified, though some paperwork was found in the clothing on his body, which was wedged under the van’s chassis, the police said. The authorities said there did not appear to be any criminality involved.

A cadre of uniformed police officers was retracing the van’s route, searching for pieces of the victim’s remains, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

The chain of events began at 6 a.m. in the vicinity of 51st Avenue and 108th Street in Corona, and ended about an hour later at Neptune Avenue and Brighton 10th Terrace in Coney Island, the police said.

Police investigators said the driver who struck the pedestrian stopped immediately and dialed 911. But officers who went to the scene did not find a body.

The driver of the second vehicle — the red cargo van — later told the police that he saw vehicles in traffic ahead of him swerving, and that he believed they were trying to avoid a pothole. It is likely they were trying to steer around the accident or around the victim lying in the road, the police said.

The second driver later told investigators that he kept driving, but that he stopped at some point to check his vehicle because something seemed to be wrong with it.

“He apparently felt something,” Mr. Kelly said. “The car was not driving in a normal fashion.”

Seeing nothing unusual, however, the driver continued on his journey. He drove along the Grand Central Parkway, then headed south on the Van Wyck Expressway and then west on the Belt Parkway.

When he exited in Brooklyn, others began flagging him down to tell him he was dragging something.

Witnesses who saw the red cargo van parked in Coney Island said they saw the body under it.

David Steinberg, 24, who lives at the corner of Brighton 10th Terrace and Coney Island Avenue, said he was awakened by sirens around 7:15 a.m. He looked out his window and saw a red Chevrolet minivan, parked on Coney Island Avenue, facing north. A body was sticking out from the front end of the car — parallel to the car, the head and shoulders protruding from beneath front bumper.

When the police pulled back the white sheet covering the body, Mr. Steinberg said, he saw a middle-aged man with olive skin and dark hair. He was shirtless and lifeless, lying face up.

“His color looked off — he looked pale and cold,” Mr. Steinberg said somberly.

Mr. Steinberg said he saw the driver, wearing a winter cap and jacket and looking tired and shocked, being questioned by police officers.

Mr. Steinberg said he had often seen the van parked on his block. “It was pretty freaky,” Mr. Steinberg said. “It’s really unfortunate.”

Lannon Unick, 21, came out of her house at 8:15 to find the gruesome scene. “It scared the hell out of me,” she said.

She said she recognized the minivan as belonging to a man who had worked for the Cancun Express car service, across the street on Coney Island Avenue. She said she had ridden in the man’s vehicle three or four times when she was running late to go to her job at a bank in Bay Ridge.

Ms. Unick said the car service closed a couple of weeks ago; the metal gate was pulled down in front of the business, and duct tape covered the phone number and other information on the awning.

“He was a decent guy,” Ms. Unick said of the driver, saying he had a son who lived in Queens.

Note: See the updated coverage from the newspaper. The victim was identified on Thursday, and a video was released.