Cyclist Killed in Manhattan By Rolls Royce Driver; Cops Blame Victim
A Bronx man has died from injuries he sustained when the driver of a fancy car slammed into him last month near the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, cops said on Tuesday.
Details are few, but police say Jakir Hossain, 28, was riding his electric bike eastbound on E. 38th Street at around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28 when he was struck by the unidentified driver of a blue 2017 Rolls Royce convertible that was traveling north on Tunnel Exit Street. Cops say the driver of the Rolls had a “green traffic signal in his favor” and the cyclist had a “steady red.”
“The bicyclist ride [sic] into the path of travel of vehicle #1, causing contact to be made and the bicyclist being ejected off the E-Bike and thrown to the roadway,” the NYPD said in a statement. It is unclear how many witnesses provided that information; often in crashes, the driver is the only person with whom investigators initially speak. Hossain had already been taken, with severe trauma to the head and body, to Bellevue Hospital, where he died on Sunday, Dec. 6. (Update: An NYPD spokesman said the report was based on “multiple witnesses,” but provided no additional information.)
The driver, 30, remained on the scene and was not charged, cops said, but the investigation “remains ongoing.” The intersection is well known for its terrible sightlines and for drivers who speed. Last year, there were 17 crashes on just the four blocks of Tunnel Exit Street, injuring a cyclist, a pedestrian and two drivers, according to Crashmapper.
Hossain is the 23rd cyclist killed this year. Last year, 29 cyclists were killed, a high watermark for the de Blasio tenure.
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