Cops must hunt down and cuff the abusive driver who tried to kill a cyclist near the West Side Greenway on Thursday morning, bike advocates are demanding.
A ballistic motorist behind the wheel of a Dodge muscle car, who was fittingly wearing a bodybuilding.com-shirt, drove through a crosswalk along the West Side Highway after the light had turned red and pedestrians had the walk signal, according to Liz Gonzales, who posted about the incident on Barstool Sports.
She said she and her dog were almost hit by the driver as they tried to cross before the driver almost hit the biker right behind them.
Gonzales said she quickly walked around the car, scared for her life, but when the biker confronted the driver for almost hitting him, the man behind the wheel went berserk and tried to run the cyclist over — all caught on Gonzales's horrifying video. The driver started shoving him along on the road with the grill of his car.
Gonzales was terrified for the biker — and posted a picture of the alleged road rager. But the NYPD showed up and did nothing, according to Gothamist, letting the unidentified motorist drive off without a hitch in what looks like a maroon Dodge Charger or Challenger — cars marketed specifically as tough machines and as “Unmistakable Muscle.”
“What was a surprise was how little the cops did when they arrived," Gonzales said. "They pretty much just showed up to clear up the traffic jam and let the muscle car bruh drive off with his protein shaker to the tattoo parlor. No tickets. No arrest. Just a quick, 'move it along' to start this beautiful Thursday morning.”
Much of the interaction is unknown, but cyclists are filled with rage, given that nothing there is never a justification for using an automobile as a weapon. It's unclear if cops saw Gonzales's video, but activists are demanding to know why police just let him go on his merry way to likely intimidate even more bikers and pedestrians — or actually hurt them.
“Another psychotic, roid rage piece of garbage driver trying to kill a cyclist on our roads. We need to ID this worthless scum and have him arrested and banned for driving for life,” wrote Chesney Parks on Twitter.
"Would someone from NYPD's 10th Precinct care to explain why this driver hasn't been arrested? Or perhaps someone from NYC Mayor's Office can explain how letting a driver who assaults someone with a muscle car is able to driver off without as much as a ticket in the age of Vision Zero?" Transportation Alternative's spokesman Joe Cutrufo wrote on Twitter.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ten cyclists have been killed so far this year on New York City roads, the same number as were killed all of last year, police stats show.
