Car drivers killed at least three people and injured seven others — including an 11-year-old boy struck by the unlicensed driver of an ice cream truck — in separate Brooklyn incidents this weekend, police said.
The bloodshed began early on Friday, when a hit-and-run driver struck Bernadine Lewis at around 2:15 a.m. According to police, Lewis, 43, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, was on a moped heading north on Throop Avenue when the driver of a dark Hyundai sedan, who was traveling westbound on Lexington Avenue, slammed into her, causing severe body trauma.
The driver fled. EMTs took Lewis to Kings County Hospital, where she died. Police provided no additional information and did not respond to a request from Streetsblog. [Update: Police responded on Monday to say that there "are no updates."]
A few hours later, a drunk and apparently enraged man struck and seriously wounded a woman with whom he was arguing when he drove off in the middle of the fight, cops said.
According to the preliminary report, 34-year-old Myroslav Iakymovych was slow rolling his black Genesis SUV on E. 16th Street near Avenue X in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn as he quarreled with an unidentified 41-year-old woman, who was identified as Iakymovych's wife in media accounts, who was standing outside the vehicle and arguing with Iakymovych through the open passenger door, cops said.
The woman was holding onto the door when Iakymovych suddenly accelerated, causing the woman to lose her grip and fall into the roadway, where she was struck by the back passenger-side tire, causing body trauma.
She was taken to NYU Langone-Brooklyn in critical condition. Cops said they later charged Iakymovych with assault and vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, drunk driving, and reckless driving.
And about an hour later, an 11-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle in East New York was seriously injured when an ice cream truck driver hit him, police said. According to the NYPD's preliminary report, the boy, whose name was not released but who was identified later by the Daily News as Tyson Anderson, was riding his bike at around 6:45 p.m. along the sidewalk of Sutter Avenue and the driver of the 1984 GMC truck was traveling southbound on Hendrix Street. As the driver approached the intersection — a dangerous crossing governed by a four-way stop sign — he entered the intersection and failed to stop as the boy rolled down the sidewalk into the crosswalk.
The driver knocked the boy to the ground, and dragged him and his bicycle, police said, causing severe head and body trauma. The boy was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Police have not provided an update on his condition.
The ice cream truck driver, Juan Remigio, 58, of the Bronx, remained on the scene and was charged with not having a license, failing to yield to the boy, and failure to exercise due care, police said. The Daily News report suggested that Tyson would survive. He had just graduated elementary school and his parents had given him the bike for getting good grades, his father told the paper.
Friday ended as it began — with road violence.
According to police, an unlicensed driver of a 2018 Dodge Ram assault truck struck a pedestrian on Fourth Avenue and 55th Street in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn at around 9:15 p.m.
Police said the 22-year-old pedestrian was struck as he tried to cross Fourth Avenue — a speedway-like road with two lanes in each direction — by the 39-year-old pickup truck driver. Cops said the driver — whose name was not released — was charged with driving with a suspended license and driving without a license at all.
The victim was unconscious and unresponsive. He was taken to Lutheran Medical Center in critical condition. Police did not provide additional information. A video from Freedom News TV showed a huge dent on the front hood of the car, which has been slapped with four tickets for expired or missing registration in just six months. The driver also got a ticket for school-zone speeding on April 19.
Saturday began with more bloodshed.
According to cops, a man was run over and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The police report gave scant details: At around 4 a.m., the man was found dead from body trauma in the middle of East 108th Street near Farragut Road. Cops said their preliminary investigation "determined" that the man was walking southbound in the middle of East 108th Street when the unidentified driver, who was traveling northbound, struck him and fled.
Police gave no additional information and did not respond to a follow up email from Streetsblog. The Post reported that the man was undomiciled.
Finally, at around 7:10 p.m. a driver brought mayhem and death to another corner of Brooklyn.
According to police, cops pulled over the driver of a 2021 Honda SUV near Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant after seeing "mismatched license plates."
As the officers approached the vehicle, the driver gunned it at high speed on Ralph Avenue, the driver crossed the double line into oncoming traffic, hitting a 28-year-old bicyclist head on, then sideswiped a parked Nissan SUV at the corner of Macon Street, before striking two pedestrians in the crosswalk. One of those pedestrians, 67-year-old Lynn Christopher, was killed. Her 8-year-old grandson was taken to Maimonides Hospital where he is in critical condition.
The Honda driver, now on Halsey Street, then struck another car, mounted the sidewalk and struck a third pedestrian, before slamming into a building. That pedestrian is in stable condition at Interfaith Hospital, cops said. The driver of the other car was lightly injured. Police said.
The total carnage for just two days in Brooklyn: Three dead, seven injured (that we know of, that is). Mayor Adams and Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez issued a rare joint statement saying they are "working every day to deliver true public safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and everyone who uses our streets."
"We have seen the numbers begin to move in the right direction, but the disturbing incidents we’ve seen in recent weeks and the last 48 hours remind us just how fragile those positive steps are and how much more work remains to tackle this national crisis," the statement continued. "We can, we must, and we will remain vigilant, continue to share the street, and take the steps necessary to keep New Yorkers safe.”
According to the DOT, the city is experiencing one of the most violent years since the beginning of the Vision Zero initiative in 2014. In the first full year of the prior administration's signature road safety effort, 99 people were killed between Jan. 1 and June 21, 2015.
But this year, over the same period, 106 people were killed.
And that's nothing compared to injuries. Between Jan. 1 and May 31 of this year, 18,786 people — comprising 1,553 cyclists, 3,511 pedestrians and 13,722 motorists — have been injured in crashes, according to city stats. That's effectively the same number of injuries — 18,919 — as the first five months of 2015, except for one small detail: This year, there have been 417 more injured cyclists than in 2015.
Update: An earlier version of this story identified the company of the ice cream truck driver connected to one of the crashes. That ID was based on press accounts at the time, which have also been changed now that the company that had been named has been exonerated.
