Hit-and-Run Driver Kills Pedestrian in Deadly Part of Brooklyn
A luxury car driver struck and killed a pedestrian on deadly Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn on Wednesday night — then fled the scene, cops said.
According to police, the 54-year-old pedestrian, whose name was not immediately released, was crossing Rockaway Parkway at Lenox Road at around 11 p.m. when he was struck by the driver of a white BMW heading southbound on the speedway-like roadway.
The victim suffered severe body trauma and was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he died. Meanwhile, the driver fled and has not been captured.
The investigation is ongoing.
What needs no further investigation is that the very short portion of Rockaway Parkway between Kings Highway and Linden Boulevard is a deathtrap. Since June, 2020, there have been 67 reported crashes on just those four blocks, injuring two cyclists, nine pedestrians and 36 drivers, according to city data visualized by Crashmapper.
In the larger 67th Precinct, in which this fatal crash occurred, there have been 2,655 crashes over the same period — roughly seven crashes per day! — injuring 127 cyclists, 172 pedestrians and 1,042 motorists (that’s almost four injuries per day!) and killing one cyclist, three pedestrians and three motorists.
Evidence suggests that the precinct does not take road safety seriously. The precinct’s cops were semi-finalists in our March Parking Madness competition, which pits various precincts for how disrespectfully they treat their neighbors.
Citywide, the carnage continues to be the worst in the entire tenure of Mayor de Blasio. Between Jan. 1 and July 7, 128 people have been killed on New York City roads, according to the Department of Transportation:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
