A Queens man was thrown to his death while clinging to the hood of a BMW as he tried to stop thieves who broke into his car in broad daylight — with harrowing surveillance video obtained by The Post depicting the violent carjacking.
Loud, distressing screams from a crowd of witnesses can be heard in the footage as the heartless crooks speed off in the white BMW, with Mauro Chimbay, 43, holding on for dear life.
Moments later, the victim is seen losing his grip on the hood and falling in the middle of the road as the BMW speeds off.
Chimbay was left with severe head trauma after being tossed by the fleeing thieves he’d tried to stop in East Elmhurst at around 3 p.m. Wednesday, said the NYPD, which is still hunting the two suspects.
The video, obtained Thursday, shows a man in a tan-colored jacket and a red beanie emerging from the BMW and making a beeline for the rear passenger door of Chimbay’s white Toyota Highlander SUV, parked across the street from a park at 25th Avenue and 85th Street where he was playing volleyball with pals.
The crook pulls out a tool similar to a hammer and uses it to bash in the window to open the inside door lock, which sets off the car alarm.
He then quickly flings open the door, grabs something from the backseat, and runs back to the waiting getaway car as bystanders alerted by the blaring sound of the alarm begin converging on the scene.
The footage shows Chimbay — the owner of the burglarized SUV — jumping onto the hood of the thieves’ BMW and falling off as it nears the end of the block.
The video does not capture Chimbay lying on the ground, but it shows people running from all directions to his aid.
Daniel Altamirano, 58, who was playing volleyball in Gorman Park with Chimbay, said the bandits stole a cardboard box from the back of Chimbay’s vehicle, prompting him to give chase.
Altamirano described the victim “bleeding so much from [his] head” after tumbling from the hood of the BMW.
“I’ve known him for years,” he told The Post. “He’s a nice guy with a nice family.”
It was not immediately known what was inside the box that was apparently snatched from Chimbay’s SUV.
“His head was broken,” Gregorio Sanchez, 60, said, describing his neighbor’s gruesome injuries. “It hit the wheel.”
Another witness, Betania Reyes, told CBS New York in Spanish that she saw Chimbay “convulsing like he was dying.”
Chimbay was taken by paramedics to NYC Health and Hospitals/ Elmhurst, where he died, police said.
Chimbay’s brother, speaking to The Post in Spanish, said the victim leaves behind a wife and their young daughter. He added that the family was extremely distraught.
The BMW carrying the suspected thieves was last seen driving northbound on 85th Street. So far, no arrests have been made.
Gonzalez said Chimbay was known and loved in their local tight-knight volleyball community.