The NYPD is probing a report that a white NYU student killed by a car in Harlem was fleeing a gang of black teenagers screaming "Get whitey!"

Larry Celona:

The NYPD hate-crimes unit is probing a report that a white NYU student killed by a car in Harlem was fleeing a gang of black teenagers screaming "Get whitey!" sources said yesterday.

If the report proves true, the violence could turn out to be an eerie replay in reverse of the infamous 1986 Howard Beach murder, where a black man was chased into traffic and killed by a group of white bigots.

The 20-year-old student, John Broderick Hehman, died yesterday, six days after the attack.

The sources said Hehman might have been targeted as a soft mark for robbers after the teenage gang spotted the caring urban-studies major handing pocket change to a wheelchair- bound man near the corner of 125th Street and Park Avenue Saturday night.

The gang of youths, some of them as young as 11, had been smoking pot inside a nearby Popeye's fast-food eatery at 8:30 p.m. when they spotted Hehman walking by and then stopping to help the handicapped man.

An anonymous caller later tipped the CrimeStoppers hot line that a group of youths screamed, "Get Whitey!" and ran toward him.

Witnesses said Hehman fled into traffic against the light and was hit by a Mercedes-Benz traveling east on 125th Street.

The 38-year-old driver remained at the scene and was not charged.

"When we heard the crash, we thought it was two cars - it was such a loud noise," said a witness.

"I couldn't believe it was a person," he said.

Hehman, known as "J.B.," had been in a coma since he was struck.

He died of massive head trauma at Harlem Hospital.

His sister, Marisa, said he had been walking to meet a friend when he was attacked.

His father, Manhattan investment banker Thomas Hehman, lives on the Upper East Side.

On a student Web site, Hehman joked his off-campus interests included "doing laundry."

Meanwhile, cops yesterday fanned out around the area where the attack occurred looking for witnesses and putting up fliers.

What was the excuse this time?

At NYT, Race is Newsworthy--Sometimes