Happy Bloody New Year: Queens Pedestrian Killed

The year 2020 is picking up right where bloody 2019 left off: a Queens pedestrian was killed on Northern Boulevard, and her killer was not charged.

According to the NYPD, 74-year-old Ok Kang was crossing the deadly roadway near Parsons Boulevard at around 6 p.m. on  New Year’s Day when she was hit by the driver of a 2015 Jeep Cherokee that was traveling westbound at a speed that the police did not release.

Kang was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she died. The driver, 43, remained on the scene and was not charged.

In 2019, New York City roadway deaths increased for the first time in the de Blasio adminstration, rising by nearly 10 percent to 219 deaths.

Queens seniors were particularly susceptible. Drivers are rarely charged, a Streetsblog analysis found.

Last year, Northern Boulevard earned the bitter nickname “The Boulevard of Death” after seven pedestrians had been killed between January, 2017, and September, 2018, including a man who was killed near the same location as Wednesday’s fatal crash.

Since then, at least three more pedestrians have been killed.