The motorcyclist's body had just been carried away from the smoldering wreckage when a fight erupted a few yards away.
On one side of the yellow police tape stood green-vested volunteers from Chesed Shel Emes, a nonprofit that handles the gruesome task of collecting body parts and fluids for burial in accordance with Jewish law.
On the opposite end stood blue-vested Hasidic volunteers from Misaskim, a scrappy start-up with the same mission.
"They were screaming at us to get out of the scene," a longtime Chesed Shel Emes volunteer said of last April's late-night fight on Kings Highway and West Sixth Street in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The police were called, and, in a rare display of unity, the two groups scanned the scene for droplets of blood and fragments of flesh and bone.
But today, they remain locked in the ultimate death match -- waiting for the next cleanup call and the race to the scene.
Misaskim leader Yanky Meyer was once recorded berating a Chesed Shel Emes volunteer who had helped transfer a body from a car crash to a New Jersey funeral home.
"Once you drop this deceased off in Lakewood, you'd better disappear," he can be heard saying, "because if I find out you're in the procession, I'm telling you right now -- I'm going to cut your balls off."
Meyer says he was just trying to get the volunteer "out of the way" so Misaskim could finish up.
On Aug. 19, both groups rushed to the Flatbush wine store where ex-hip-hop exec and converted Orthodox Jew Yosef Robinson was shot dead.
"We got there first," said a volunteer for Chesed Shel Emes (Hebrew for "true kindness"), which paid for the funeral and flew a minyan of 10 volunteers to Jamaica for the required prayer service.
Rabbi Mendy Rosenberg created Chesed Shel Emes 25 years ago. Its hundreds of volunteers handle about 300 burials and cleanups a year.
Misaskim ("helpers" in Hebrew) also monitors emergency calls on handheld radios. Its 11 delivery trucks transport special stools and prayer books for mourners sitting shiva.
Peace talks? The rivals won't even consider them.
"It's a freaking shame you and I have to talk about this," said Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), who has repeatedly tried to broker a sit-down. "I have a lot of respect for both."
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