Two NYC pedestrians were killed by motorists over the weekend. One of the victims was a senior; the other was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the City Council district represented by Eric Ulrich, where at least five pedestrians have died in traffic in 2013.
Last Friday evening at approximately 6:45 p.m., 74-year-old Gloria Mabry was walking to her Bronx home when she was hit by an MTA bus driver. According to reports, Mabry was pushing a grocery cart along Co-Op City Boulevard when the bus driver struck her while turning left from Co-Op City Boulevard onto Dreiser Loop.
From the Daily News:
Mabry ended up getting caught under the rear wheels of the bus, horrified witnesses said. Paramedics rushed Mabry to Jacobi Medical Center, but doctors were unable to save her.
"My mother was 74 years old and bringing home a cart of groceries," Mabry's son, Reginald Mabry, told News 12. "There's no way whatsoever that a vehicle going a safe speed could not have seen that little lady."
"It wasn’t immediately clear if Mabry had the light when she was crossing," reported the AP. In other words, it's not known who had the right of way. The NYPD public information office had no details on how the crash unfolded, or whether summonses were issued. A spokesperson said the investigation was "ongoing," which often means police are awaiting toxicology reports on the victim.
Mabry was killed in the City Council district represented by Andy King, and in the 45th Precinct, where as of October local officers had issued 227 speeding tickets in 2013, and 16 citations for failure to yield to a pedestrian.
At around 3:15 a.m. Saturday, Yunior Antonio Perez Rodriguez, 35, was struck as he tried to cross Woodhaven Boulevard at Jamaica Avenue. He was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. The driver fled the scene.
DNAinfo reports that Rodriguez was hit by the driver of a white passenger car, possibly a Honda, who was traveling southbound on Woodhaven. As of this afternoon no arrests had been made, NYPD said, and no further information was available. Of 60 fatal crashes involving hit-and-run drivers in 2012, according to Transportation Alternatives, NYPD made just 15 arrests.
Rodriguez was at least the fourth pedestrian killed this year in the 102nd Precinct, where as of October local officers had issued 174 speeding tickets, and 187 summonses for failure to yield to a pedestrian. The crash occurred on the border of the council districts represented by Eric Ulrich and Elizabeth Crowley, which have seen a combined total of at least six pedestrian and cyclist deaths in 2013, according to crash data compiled by Streetsblog.
An unnamed 67-year-old male pedestrian was killed at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue last February.
Ulrich, a vocal critic of automated traffic enforcement and DOT's street safety program, failed to respond to multiple Streetsblog queries concerning traffic fatalities in his district last summer. On Saturday Ulrich tweeted: "the fatal hit-and-run on Woodhaven Blvd. is tragic and just the latest reminder of how dangerous this corridor has become."
