The head of the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office apologized yesterday for an incident in which a deceased hit-and-run victim was put into a van with dirty cans and bottles collected for recycling.

The apology came at a City Council hearing where frustrated elected officials got few answers as to why Irishman Kevin Bell, 26, was crudely handled like a bag of trash last week.

Interim acting Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson apologized to Bell’s family “for the additional burden upon them at this most agonizing time.”