An electric bike rider who had been struck and injured by a driver in June has died, police said on Friday, adding another fatality to what is far and away the bloodiest year for cyclists in decades.
According to police, Jose Guerrero, 58, was cycling northbound on Broadway near Conway Street in Brooklyn at around 11:40 p.m. on June 23 when the driver of a Honda CRV, which had been heading southbound on Broadway, turned left at the intersection and struck the cyclist.
Guerrero suffered a "traumatic head injury," according to police, and was taken to Brookdale Medical Center in critical condition. He died there three days later, though police did not inform the public until Friday.
The 74-year-old driver, who remained on the scene in East New York, was not charged. His name was not released.
The death toll for cyclists is playing out like a horror film this year. According to the Department of Transportation, 22 cyclists died on New York City streets between Jan. 1 and Aug. 17 — up from 13 over the same period last year and the highest number through this point in any year for decades. Another 10 moped and e-scooter riders have been killed, bringing the micro-mobility death toll to at least 32.
The last time the numbers of dead were close to being this high — there were 19 cyclists killed in roughly same period in 2019 — then-Mayor Bill de Blasio declared the carnage an “emergency” and created a "Green Wave" safety plan.
So far this year, the Adams administration has chosen to focus its public messaging on the decrease in pedestrian fatalities, which are down from 65 last year to 55 over the same period this year.
Activists are frustrated by the slow pace of change.
"Any death is a tragedy and [the] deaths so far this year is a really significant number. We need to do better," Eric McClure, executive director of the pro-bike, pro-transit political action committee StreetsPAC, told Streetsblog back when the death count was at 20.
“The mayor is going to have to step up the execution to match the rhetoric from his campaign."
Brooklyn Council Member Shahana Hanif (D-Park Slope) accused Adams of taking the city “backwards” on traffic safety.
"We have been proactive and pushing against what this mayor is doing to undo street safety. We need to have the political courage across all levels of government to create a city that is walkable, prioritizes pedestrians, and ends these senseless murders," Hanif said.
