A 64-year-old woman was struck and killed by a truck driver in Times Square on Saturday afternoon, but the driver was not charged.
According to police, Tamar Rhode of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was walking eastbound on West 45th Street across Seventh Avenue at around 3 p.m. when she was struck by the driver of a large dump truck (initially identified by NYPD as a tractor-trailer) that was making a left turn onto Seventh Avenue in the middle of the so-called Crossroads of the World. Cops said Rhode was in the crosswalk and had the light when she was struck by the 55-year-old dump truck driver.
When cops arrived, Rhode was observed to have severe leg trauma, and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she later died. No further information about her condition was provided.
The truck driver, whose name was not released, remained on the scene and was charged only with two equipment violations related to the lack of tarp atop his container and something related to the anti-lock braking system. The driver was not charged with failure to yield or failure to exercise due care, the low-hanging fruit of vehicular violations.
Photos published by the New York Post showed that the truck has a New Jersey license plate, which was not nabbed for any previous camera violations, according to How's My Driving.
"There does not appear to be any criminality suspected at this time," police said in a statement. A police spokesman later told Streetsblog that the investigation between the Collision Investigation Squad and the Manhattan District Attorneys office is ongoing.
The Manhattan DA press shop confirmed that investigation but declined to provide additional details.
