By Paul Bisceglio

The South Village lost an iconic friend last week in a gruesome accident along Sixth Avenue. Jessica Dworkin, 58, was struck by a tractor-trailer and dragged for two blocks under its wheels.

Dozens of pedestrians witnessed the collision. On the morning of Aug. 27, Dworkin began to cross Sixth Avenue on a foot scooter at the same time the 18-wheeler was turning onto the road from West Houston Street. The truck’s rear caught her and pulled her into its back wheels. Many onlookers chased the truck and screamed at the unaware driver, Greg Smith, but it took him until Carmine Street to realize that something had happened.

After Smith stopped the truck, he rushed out shocked and began crying, witnesses said. The driver now faces charges of failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

Dworkin was pronounced dead at the scene.

“She was a real neighborhood character. She gave flavor to the neighborhood,” said Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney, who had seen Dworkin around town since she moved to her apartment on Thompson Street in the 1970s.

“Everyone knew of her,” a Soho shop owner added. “She was a staple in the neighborhood.”

Locals characterized Dworkin as an artistic eccentric, a South Village icon known for roaming the streets on her scooter, striking up conversations with the trees and changing her elaborate vintage outfits as many as four times a day.

“She was always a little bit disheveled, but had a shabby finery to her clothing,” Sweeney said. “She was very fashion-conscious in her own unique way.”

Sweeney recalled one of his first encounters with Dworkin years ago, when he and his girlfriend were walking back to his apartment late at night. She approached them on the street, and he expected her to ask for money. Instead, she pointed to his girlfriend’s shoes.

“Are those Ferragamos?” she asked.

They were.

“They look wonderful!” she declared, and continued down the street.

Dworkin’s past is mostly unknown. She reportedly said that she moved to the city from Massachusetts and claimed to have written for Interview and Details magazines. She had volunteered at the Judith C. White Senior Center for the past two years, and was described as kind, talkative and generally well-liked by employees at the shops she frequented along Thompson and Sullivan streets.

Many locals were unwilling to go into much more detail about Dworkin’s place in the community, though. “Her death really shook us up,” said one store employee. “The gruesomeness of it, the fact that we’ve seen her every day for years—I think many of us just need some time to work through this.”

A picture tribute to Dworkin was posted near her home. None of her family has been identified, but a local restaurant worker mentioned that a male relative of hers visited the neighborhood last Wednesday.

“Her death is a loss to the community,” said Sweeney, echoing the most common sentiment expressed by Soho, Greenwich Village and South Village residents. “Part of the neighborhood’s unique character went with her.”

Photo by edenpictures. Via Flickr Commons.

By Paul Bisceglio

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*Update*: An NYPD spokesperson announced on Wednesday that Greg Smith was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

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South Village resident Jessica Dworkin, 58, was killed on Monday morning when the rear of a tractor trailer hit her and dragged her two blocks under its back wheels. According to witnesses, she attempted to cross Sixth Avenue on a foot scooter at the same time the 18-wheeler was making a right turn onto the avenue from West Houston Street. The truck swept her into its wheels.

Witnesses attempted to alert the unaware driver, Greg Smith, who finally stopped at Carmine Street.

“There were a dozen people running up the street screaming and telling him to stop,” witness Christian Cruz told the Daily News. “He didn’t notice. I saw all the blood and couldn’t look anymore.”

Another witness told the Daily News that once Smith realized what was going on, he rushed out of the truck. “He put his hands on his head like, ‘What did I do?’ He started screaming and crying.”

According to police, Smith is not expected to be charged. Dworkin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney said that “everyone knew” Dworkin around Soho and Greenwich Village. Craig Walker, a longtime resident and friend of hers, told DNAinfo that she moved into her Thompson Street apartment back in the 1970′s.

Dworkin was an eccentric and sociable artistic type who spent a lot of time traveling the street on her scooter, according to Sweeney. Her taste for thrift store clothing made her easily stand out.

“She had a shabby finery to her clothing,” Sweeney told New York Press. “She was a bit of a hoarder — very fashion conscioius, in her own unique way.”

She was even known to change her outfits as many as four times a day, according to Michael Robinson, a Soho store manager who saw her almost daily for 23 years. She was a “fixture in the neighborhood,” he told DNAinfo.

One Soho resident who wished to remain anonymous mentioned rumors that Dworkin had recently been fighting eviction because of hoarding, but that neighbors came to her support and helped her to stay.

“She was well liked,” affirmed Sweeney. “She was a real neighborhood character who gave flavor to the neighborhood.”