Garbage truck crushes Jacqueline Haeflinger in New York City, as she chases her dog Violet

A WOMAN has been crushed to death as she tried to rescue her dog that had dashed beneath a garbage truck.

A WOMAN was crushed to death on Wednesday as she tried to rescue her beloved dog from beneath a New York City garbage truck, witnesses and authorities said.

Jacqueline Haeflinger, 58, was walking Violet near her Chelsea home shortly before 10am when the Boston terrier bolted across and dashed under the garbage truck, the New York Post reports.

Witnesses said Haeflinger, an administrator at New York University, was reaching under the back portion of the vehicle to retrieve the pooch when the truck backed up.

Haeflinger was pronounced dead at the scene.

Beloved ... Jacqueline Haeflinger doted on Violet, filling her Facebook page with pictures of the dog. Picture: Facebook

“One of our collection trucks was involved in a fatal accident this morning and the investigation is ongoing,” a New York City Sanitation Department spokesman said.

The truck’s loader was outside the vehicle and saw a woman approaching the back of the truck, but when he yelled to her she didn’t hear him, a police source said.

Neither did the driver, who was parked in a bicycle lane.

“The truck was backing up and hit her,” the source said.

“The co- driver was waving his hands at the driver telling him ‘stop, stop.,’” said Ed Sanders, 48, a personal trainer who witnessed the accident. “He didn’t hear him. When he stopped, it was too late.

“He got out of the truck. He grabbed his head. He was really upset as if to say ‘what did I do?’ The co-driver was yelling at him, ‘I tried to stop you.’”

The dog, named for the NYU team, was still on its leash and unharmed when it was retrieved by cops.

“The dog went under the truck and she instinctively went to get it,” said one witness.

Close bond ... acquaintances say Boston terrier Violet “was like family” to Jacqueline Haeflinger. Picture: Facebook

Neighbours looked on in horror as emergency workers surrounded the vehicle. The woman’s body lay underneath for at least 90 minutes while police investigated the accident.

Screams rang out when pedestrians witnessed the horror.

“I would see her walking the dog every day in the morning and at night,” said Jeffrey Purfield, 25, who delivers balloons in the neighbourhood.

“She was very pleasant, happy and outgoing. She’d say hi and we talked about the weather.”

He said he saw her about a week-and-a-half ago walking the dog. He said she seemed to have a close bond with her dog. She was always by herself with the animal.

“You could see she cared a lot about her dog. It seemed like a mutual friendship. The dog seemed to be happy and calm. She seemed happy and calm, too. It was always her and her dog. I am not shocked that she went under the truck to get her dog. The dog was like family to her.”

Haeflinger’s Facebook page is filled with pictures of the dog, including one of the pooch in a purple sweater.

“I can’t believe this,” said a friend, Robert Gioria, 51. “I had plans with her next week. I am totally numb right now.”

Haeflinger worked for 18 years as the school’s associate director for university events, planning commencements, convocations, and visits by dignitaries at campus locations in New York and abroad.

Originally published as Garbage truck crushes Jacqueline Haeflinger in New York City, as she chases her dog Violet