E. Oak Lane man killed by bus in NYC

Neighbors gathered on a quaint East Oak Lane block yesterday afternoon to mourn the loss of a friend whose life was cut short Saturday night after a tour-bus driver mowed the man down on a New York City street.

Timothy White, 29, and his cousin went to New York for the weekend to check out a restaurant that a friend had recommended, neighbors said.

But White never made it back to his apartment on Oak Lane Avenue near 8th Street to share his adventure with friends.

Shortly before 10 p.m., police responded to a 9-1-1 call for a pedestrian hit by a vehicle on 9th Avenue between West 46th and West 47th Streets in Manhattan.

Police found White unconscious with severe trauma to the body, underneath a Travel Lynx tour bus. They said he had been dragged a short distance by the bus. He was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A preliminary investigation determined that White had been walking eastbound on 47th Street, crossing 9th Avenue as the tour bus, traveling westbound on West 47th Street, turned south on to 9th Avenue when he was struck.

The driver, Steve Drappel, 57, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DUI. Police said Drappel was in Manhattan Central Booking last night awaiting arraignment.

No passengers were on the bus and no one else was injured. It is not clear where the bus was heading. According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration two Travel Lynx drivers were cited with speeding in October and December of last year.

The tragic news stunned White's neighbors, who said his family is a pillar of the community.

They said White, a Colorado native, was related to one of the nation's best-known builders, John McShain, whose company built or was the prime contractor for the Pentagon and the reconstruction of the White House.

"He was one of the smiling faces in the neighborhood," said Greg Ellis, 31, who often saw White at a neighborhood hangout that his cousin owned, the Under the Oak Cafe. "He had that Irish style," he said adding that White almost always wore a jeff cap.

White worked at a Blockbuster video store in Abington until the beginning of this year.

"He would give you the shirt off his back," said Sabrina Stewart, 40, a former co-worker as she broke out in tears. "He loved having fun all the time."

"He was a promising young man, intellectually curious," said Marita Krivida Poxon, 64. "This is a great tragedy for that family."