Bay Ridge Pol: NYPD Must Crack Down on Rogue Car Dealerships After Pedestrian Was Run Down on the Sidewalk

Bay Ridge's livid council member demanded on Friday that the NYPD finally crack down on neighborhood car dealerships' practice of parking their wares on the sidewalk, one day after a pedestrian was run down and killed by a driver who was driving his new VW off the lot.

Council Member Justin Brannan demanded "a zero tolerance policy because whatever we've tried in the past hasn't worked."

"Some of these dealerships just don't care and now a woman is dead because a car was driving on the sidewalk," Brannan said.

According to police, Carol Langdon, 72, was merely walking on the sidewalk in front of Bay Ridge Volkswagen, which occupies the block of Fourth Avenue between Forest Place and 90th Street, at around 3:20 p.m. on Thursday when a 29-year-old man drove his new 2021 Atlas directly into her as he "pulled forward to exit the sidewalk."

Langdon was knocked down and suffered severe head trauma. She died later at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. Meanwhile, the driver, whose name was not released, was not charged, though an NYPD spokesperson said the investigation is "ongoing."

NYPD declined to comment on Brannan's demand for more enforcement of the rampant problem of car dealerships using sidewalks to display cars. Brannan has been trying since at least 2018 to pass a bill in the council to revoke the business license of dealerships that continue the practice, which is already illegal. Often the cars left on sidewalks don't have license plates yet, so police don't write tickets.

On Friday, Brannan was still fuming about the death of Langdon, who was well known in Bay Ridge.

"This was a fucking tragedy — a completely avoidable, if not predictable, tragedy," he said. "Many of these dealerships have treated our sidewalks as an extension of their showroom for decades. The bad actors have all been warned many, many times. The NYPD is well aware and has spoken to these bad actors dozens of times.

"The sidewalk is for pedestrians, not for cars and not for car showrooms," Brannan added. "This is Brooklyn, New York. This is not Route 22 in Springfield, New Jersey. These dealerships need to understand the neighborhoods in which they are operating. Some do, some obviously do not. ... I am not shocked but I am horrified."

Update: After initial publication of this story, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris, Families for Safe Streets Co-Founder Amy Cohen and State Senator Andrew Gounardes issued the following statement: