A motorist was decapitated yesterday when his van slammed into a bulldozer on a Brooklyn highway, sources said.
The motorist, whose name was withheld pending family notification, was heading west on the Belt Parkway near Flatbush Avenue at 2:05 p.m., when his 1988 Dodge minivan struck the bulldozer, which had a backhoe attached to its rear, witnesses said.
The force of the impact caused a protruding piece of the backhoe to pierce the van, and this decapitated the van driver, killing him instantly, sources said.
“He wouldn’t have seen it coming, it cut his head straight off,” said a police source.
The bulldozer was moving slowly on the highway’s shoulder with a load of gravel or dirt, one source said.
It belonged to Granite Helmer, a Mount Vernon, N.Y.-based private contractor, who was working for the city Department of Transportation, DOT spokesman Tom Cocola said.
It was carrying its load further down the parkway to a construction site near the Paerdergat Bridge, Cocola said
The dead motorist was driving up a slight incline on the highway.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver was suddenly blinded by the glare of the sun and veered onto the shoulder.
The dead man is believed to be a 61-year-old resident of Rockville Centre, L.I.
The driver of the bulldozer was not charged.
The accident caused massive traffic delays on the Belt Parkway as two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane were closed for several hours, Cocola said.
Additional reporting by Heather Gilmore