Xin Kang Wang, 74, Dies Ten Days After Taxi Passenger Doored Him on 20th Street
Xin Kang Wang, 74, died on Sunday, 10 days after a taxi passenger doored him on 20th Street. The driver had pulled into the bike lane ahead of Wang immediately beforehand, police said.
Wang was heading east on 20th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue. As the passenger exited the vehicle they hit Wang with the door, and Wang “bounced into the adjacent travel lane and fell in front of a second 2016 Toyota, before coming to a rest on the roadway,” according to the police description of the crash. The NYPD account suggests but does not actually specify that the driver of the second vehicle struck Wang.
Both drivers remained on the scene and no arrests have been made, though an investigation is ongoing. The taxi driver was given a summons for discharging a passenger in a bike lane, according to the Daily News.
Wang is the second person killed biking in Manhattan this year, matching the total number of cyclist deaths in the borough in 2016.
The May 4 collision occurred in the 13th Precinct and the City Council district represented by Rosie Mendez. The 13th Precinct holds its next community council meeting on June 20.
Correction (5/19/17, 9:55 a.m.): NYPD’s description of the crash incorrectly said the victim was female. The text has been amended to reflect Wang’s correct gender according to the funeral home that handled his memorial service.
Update (5/19/17, 11:37 a.m.): The driver of the first vehicle in the crash was not operating a city-licensed taxi or livery car, and in fact had New Jersey license plates, according to a spokesperson for the TLC. The second vehicle involved in the crash was a TLC-registered for-hire vehicle.
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