An Upper West Side pedestrian was stuck and critically wounded by a recklessly speeding DHL delivery driver on Wednesday night, police and witnesses said, and a driver nearby was so incensed by the crash that he got out of his car to personal berated the rogue motorist.
According to police and a witness who contacted Streetsblog, a 36-year-old man was attempting to cross Broadway at 73rd Street against the light at around 7:15 p.m. when he was struck by the speeding driver, later identified as Brendan Arzu, 27, of the Bronx. The victim had been in a group of people who were about to cross Broadway, the witness said, but thought better of it when they saw the speed of the DHL driver — with one witness claiming he was going 60 miles per hour.
The victim was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in critical condition. Cops arrested Arzu and charged him with vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated.
"Why were you going so fucking fast?!" one driver yelled at the DHL driver after the crash. He yelled it at least twice, a witness said.
Broadway is the economic and spiritual spine of the Upper West Side, but as spines go, it causes excessive pain. In 2019*, there were 319 reported crashes on just the 20 blocks between Columbus Circle and West 79th Street, injuring 12 cyclists, 19 pedestrians and 31 motorists, killing one pedestrian, city statistics show. The roadway does not have a protected bike lane, though many advocates have called for it; others have demanded that at least part of Broadway be made car-free.
* Streetsblog is using 2019 as the last calendar year for stats, owing to the pandemic.
