Bushwick

Garbage Truck Operator Kills Cyclist in Bushwick, Keeps Driving

A garbage truck driver hit and killed a cyclist in Bushwick at around 8:50 p.m. last night. According to NYPD, the driver and the cyclist were both traveling on Varick Avenue, when the truck turned onto Meserole Street and struck the cyclist.

By Noah Kazis

5:41 PM EDT on July 8, 2010

Varick Avenue at the corner of Meserole Street, where a cyclist was killed last night. Photo: Google Street View

Police are still trying to identify the driver, who did not remain at the scene. According to NYPD, the driver was operating an unusually large private garbage truck, and the officer who fielded our call speculated that the driver may not have even noticed he struck the cyclist. NYPD has not decided whether to file charges.

NYPD said the cyclist has not been identified either. The Post reported that he was 51 years old, but family and friends in this post’s comments section say he was 24.

Noah Kazis

Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox. Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.