Cops: 24th Cyclist Killed By Truck Driver In Harlem
Another cyclist — the 24th this year — has died on a New York City street, and police are blaming the victim.
According to the preliminary NYPD report, the driver of a truck hit and killed a 41-year-old man along First Avenue in East Harlem on Friday morning at around 8:30 a.m. — with cops saying the cyclist was going the wrong way before the crash near E. 118th Street. But police ignored a history of reckless driving and illegal parking connected with the truck in question that just as likely could have contributed to the man’s death.
Police did say that the truck was heading north on First Avenue in the bus-only lane of the one-way roadway with three additional lanes of traffic — when he struck the still unidentified biker. Police say the cyclist was biking the “wrong way,” but could not say whether the driver was speeding or distracted at the time of the fatal crash — a possibility given that the truck has racked up 159 violations since 2014, including seven for speeding and going through red lights, according to the city’s camera violation database.
Cops say the driver remained on the scene but was not issued any summonses.
And another likely contributor to the crash that cops failed to mention was an illegally parked car on First Avenue — right in front of a “No Standing Anytime” sign — which shows up in pictures of the crash site.
That stretch of First Avenue is deadly for bikers and pedestrians — there have been 177 crashes in just the 10 blocks between 110th and 120th streets since January, 2019, causing 69 injuries, including to 17 cyclists and 16 pedestrians, with one pedestrian fatality, according to Crash Mapper.
The cyclist is the 24th to die so far this year on New York City streets — just five less than the 29 who died in all of 2019. A cyclist died from his injuries after being hit by a Rolls-Royce earlier this month, becoming the 23rd cyclist to be killed. And on Wednesday, police revealed that cyclist Tyrone Bryant, 52, had died in a crash at the intersection of Somers Street and Stone Avenue in Brooklyn last month. The NYPD claims Bryant “fell off” his e-bicycle, but counted the Department of Transportation counted his death as a motorcycle fatality, saying he was a moped.
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