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Driver killed after tire falls off garbage truck, flies into windshield

NEW YORK — Authorities say a 64-year-old driver has been killed when his car was struck by a tire that flew off a private sanitation vehicle on the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn.

Police say Robert Martinez was heading east at around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday when the tire came loose from the westbound sanitation vehicle. It went over the center media and smashed his windshield.

Police say Martinez suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The driver of the garbage truck remained at the scene. No charges were filed.

Martinez was a building maintenance worker at the New York Police Department headquarters.

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