NEW YORK - A thief fleeing a Bronx jewelry store was killed when his bicycle was struck by a bus, police said.

Authorities said the 42-year-old man had just snatched a $2,000 gold chain and was making his getaway from the Dreams Jewelry shop in the borough's Melrose section just before 4 p.m. when he was hit.

A shouting store clerk and two bystanders had been chasing the man on foot, and he pedaled into an intersection and was hit by a fast-moving express bus, police said.

The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he died from head injuries.

Five passengers on the bus who were jostled when the bus slammed on its brakes were also examined at the hospital.

“He lost his life for $2,000,” the store's owner, Lakhwinder Singh, told The New York Times.

“He'd sell it for maybe only two or three hundred. That makes no sense.”

The necklace is still missing, and may have been thrown from the scene or grabbed by a bystander after the accident.