The bicycle (picture courtesy STAR Ananda) ridden by the iPod carrying teenager that was hit from behind by the lorry (picture top by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya) at the crossing of James Long Sarani and Janakalyan Road in Behala on Friday morning. The lorry, later set ablaze by protesters, was towed away to Thakurpukur police station

A lorry driver in a hurry to escape after knocking down a teenaged bicyclist on Friday morning drove over the injured boy, crushing him to death.

Witnesses said the unidentified boy, riding a Ranger Max bicycle and carrying an iPod, had stopped at the crossing of James Long Sarani and Janakalyan Road in Behala around 7.45am when the brick-laden lorry hit him from behind.

“Flung off his bicycle, the boy landed in front of the left wheel of the truck. The driver slammed the brakes but didn’t wait for more than a couple of seconds. In a bid to speed away, the left front wheel went over the boy’s head. It was horrible,” said Ranjan Samaddar, who saw the accident from a roadside tea stall.

Another witness said the helper, who looked out of the window once and shouted that the boy was dead, misled the driver. “He revved up and drove over the boy lying wounded on the road before any of us could react,” he added.

The boy was taken to Vidyasagar State General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Apart from the iPod, the teenager was carrying three CDs and a pack of playing cards. He was dressed in a red shirt and black trousers. The police did not find any wallet or identity card on him.

Thakurpukur police station, which is investigating the accident, had no information about the boy’s identity till late in the night.

“We have alerted all police stations but nobody has yet filed a missing diary with a description matching the boy’s physical characteristics and clothing,” an officer said.

The tram tracks and the traffic congestion building up on Diamond Harbour Road prevented the lorry driver from speeding away. Some pedestrians intercepted the vehicle and attacked the driver and his helper. But both fled before a mob could gather.

Residents of the area blocked Janakalyan Road for around half an hour from 9am to protest the accident. They also set the truck ablaze. A fire-tender had to be called to douse the flames.

“The road is narrow and does not have speedbreakers despite this being an accident-prone stretch,” one of the protesters said.

They submitted a memorandum to local councillor Utpal Chatterjee, demanding speedbreakers, better traffic policing and steps to demolish shops that were eating into road space. The accident occurred in front of one such grocery shop at the corner of the James Long Sarani- Janakalyan Road crossing.

Raju Dey, one of the youths who led the protest, said the shop owner had illegally set up a makeshift platform to sell vegetables, reducing the width of the road. “The victim would perhaps have lived had the driver’s view not been obscured by the plastic sheet over the makeshift shop. The driver was coming from the Thakurpukur side and may not have noticed the boy while taking the bend at the crossing.”

The councillor said he would look into the complaint.

The police were waiting for leads about the victim’s identity till late on Friday. Some shopkeepers said that the victim could be a boy from a nearby slum but a visit to the slum revealed that the teenager they were referring to was at home. When someone mentioned another boy of similar build who worked in a Behala cycle shop, the police went there but found him safe.