A 37-year-old woman died after being whacked by a piece of flying plywood jarred loose from a Greenwich Village construction site by Tuesday's high wind gusts, authorities say.
Trang-Thuy Nguyen was walking east on West 12th Street shortly before 6 p.m., as sustained winds crept up near 30 mph with gusts as high as 45 mph in parts of the city, when a 4-by-8 piece of plywood flung off a security fence at a construction site across the street and smacked into her body.
The plywood hit her at a high rate of speed, police said, causing her to hit her head. She suffered severe head trauma, bruising and lacerations, police said.
Nguyen was pronounced dead shortly after midnight at Bellevue Hospital.
Her fiance, Alejandro Beitler, issued an emotional statement.
"She always saw the best in everyone. She was always reminding me to see the same," he said. "We were together for five of the best years of our lives. We planned to be married in July. ... This is the most devastating loss. She was the woman of my dreams."
A pedestrian on the sidewalk Wednesday said the accident was horrific.
"This street is a wind tunnel and it's been rather dangerous," she said.
