A 69-year-old man passed away on New Year's Day from injuries sustained the previous evening, police said.
Mustag Ahmad, of Bensonhurst, was crossing New Utrecht Avenue near 82nd Street at around 6:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, when the 44-year-old driver of a 2017 Honda Accord struck him, according to NYPD. Cops blamed the victim by saying he was crossing "mid-block, outside the marked crosswalk" — but failed to point out that there is no crosswalk at that location.
Ahmad was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center with severe head trauma. He died the next day.
No charges have been filed against the driver. The speed limit on New Utrecht Avenue is 25 miles per hour. Had the driver been traveling that speed, it's unlikely Ahmad would have been killed.
Despite dying in 2019, Ahmad's death will be counted in 2018, according to a spokesman for the Department of Transportation. An investigation by the department's Collision Investigation Squad is ongoing.
Updated: The original version of this story was based on misinformation provided by the NYPD and has been updated to reflect that Ahmad will be classified as a 2018 fatality.
