News & Events
City Tech Mourns Loss of Alumnus Michael Occhino
New York City College of Technology joins in mourning the tragic death of alumnus Michael Occhino, 25, who was accidentally killed on August 28, 2006, when the sanitation truck he was driving skidded on a diesel fuel spill on the BQE near the Brooklyn Height Promenade. The truck crashed through the guardrail and the cab was left dangling over the edge. Mr. Occhino was thrown through the windshield and hurled headfirst onto Furman Street 30 feet below.
Mr. Occhino was the third New York City worker in two days to be killed in the line of duty. Mayor Michael Bloomberg rushed to console the Occhino family following the 4 a.m. accident. In a later announcement, Mayor Bloomberg said that all three men – Mr. Occhino and firefighters Michael Reilly and Howard Carpuk – had died “serving the city and making it a better place for all of us.”
A graduate of City Tech’s associate degree program in liberal arts and sciences, Mr. Occhino joined the Sanitation Department in May 2004 and was assigned to Brooklyn South District 11 at the time of his death. He lived in Bensonhurst/Brooklyn with his twin brother, Carmine, one of New York City’s Bravest assigned to Brooklyn’s Engine 253. Michael had expressed a desire to join his brother in the Fire Department.
Speaking for the College and its School of Liberal Arts & Science, Dean Pamela Brown spoke of Michael Occhino as “the nicest young man, who took lots of chemistry courses and worked in Department of Chemistry office as a student aide and part-time College Laboratory Technician. We are grieved by his tragic loss and our hearts go out to his family.”
10/05/06
