NYPD: “No Criminality” as Truck Driver Kills Woman in Brooklyn Crosswalk

Update: NYPD told the Daily News the truck driver “had the right of way” when he drove over Latiesha Ramsey.

The driver of a box truck fatally struck a woman in a crosswalk in Bedford-Stuyvesant this morning. NYPD filed no charges.

Latiesha Ramsey, 37, was crossing Lafayette Avenue at around 10:20 when the driver ran her over while making a left turn from Lafayette onto Kossuth Place, NYPD told Gothamist. Police said Ramsey was walking south to north in the crosswalk.

Police told Gothamist “no criminality is suspected.” WABC reported that the driver, a 49-year-old man whose name was not released, “was not expected to be charged.”

Reports said Ramsey was pushing a cart of laundry. From DNAinfo:

A witness said the woman, who lived several blocks away on Patchen Avenue, was in the middle of the street heading north across Lafayette Avenue when the light turned green.

As the truck bore down on her, she tried to warn the driver.

“She put her hands up,” Renee Best, 25, who saw the accident, said. “[She yelled] whoa, whoa, whoa — boom.”

She was caught under the truck’s back tire, dragging her about ten feet and her laundry about a block north to Broadway.

“She was face down bleeding through her ears. [The driver] didn’t stop ’til everybody flagged him down,” said Nelson Diaz, 42, who lives nearby.

New York State law requires trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds that operate in NYC to be equipped with convex “crossover” mirrors, which give drivers a view of the road directly in front of them. But loopholes in the law are keeping dangerous trucks on city streets. The weight clause exempts trucks that have the same cab configuration, and the same “blind spots,” as heavier trucks. and the law applies only to trucks that are registered in New York State.

Based on photos of the scene, the truck involved in this morning’s crash appears to have New Jersey plates and no crossover mirrors.

The crash that killed Latiesha Ramsey occurred in the 81st Precinct, which is holding a community council meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at 1958 Fulton Street. Community council meetings are a great way to communicate directly with precinct brass and local electeds about street safety. The commanding officer of the 81st Precinct is Deputy Inspector Scott M. Henderson.

The City Council district where Latiesha Ramsey was killed is represented by Robert Cornegy.