A distracted driver slammed into the back of a Department of Sanitation waste truck, severely injuring one of the agency's workers yet was not even charged with failure to exercise due care, police said.
The 40-year-old driver of a Toyota Highlander was headed southbound on Colgate Avenue in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx on Monday at around 8 a.m. when she failed to slow down, or even alter her trajectory, before ramming at full speed into the back of the truck, where the 32-year-old worker, whose name has not been released, was standing with his back to the street.
A video of the incident, obtained by Streetsblog from social media, showed the moments before and after the horrific crash:
The Sanitation worker was taken to Jacobi Hospital in critical condition, but is expected to survive. It is unclear if he will regain use of his legs, which were crushed between the bumpers of the vehicles.
"No criminality is suspected," a police spokesperson said when asked about charges against the driver for recklessness. The spokesperson also declined to say if the driver was distracted, on her phone, speeding or simply not paying attention.
"The investigation is ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The crash was widely disseminated on social media, with cyclists pointing out that a single, momentary lapse of attention by a driver can have catastrophic and permanent implications:
A Sanitation worker is in critical condition, and another person suffered minor injuries after a car slammed into the sanitation workers along Colgate Avenue in the Bronx, Monday morning.Big white truck, on double wide street. And #BikeNYC are supposed to feel safe with these distracted drivers??
— sqddxjQ48j (@sqddxjq48j.bsky.social) 2024-12-17T11:34:45.436Z
The driver remained on the scene, police said.
Sanitation workers always face peril when they put on the gloves and vest. "Refuse collection is one of the most dangerous jobs there is, with higher fatality rates than policing or firefighting," StreetsPAC testified before the City Council in 2021 during a debate over making the job safer.
After initial publication of this story, the Department of Sanitation put out the following statement: "Sanitation workers have a dangerous job, as the horrifying video of this collision shows. Sanitation Worker [Ahmad] Ladson remains at Jacobi Hospital receiving round-the-clock care, and every single one of New York’s Strongest is incredibly grateful to the medical team there. Our entire Department stands with Sanitation Worker Ladson’s family in this difficult time."
City records show Ladson has been with DSNY only two years, earning just $64,000 this year.
According to city records, car and truck drivers have caused 67,426 reported crashes through Dec. 13, or roughly 190 per day. Those crashes have injured 37,621 people, including 5,339 pedestrians and 3,260 cyclists.
Over the same period, 214 pedestrians have been injured by the riders of e-bikes, mopeds and e-scooters, the same records show.
