The driver of a hulking Ford F150 SUV killed a cyclist in northeastern Queens on Tuesday morning, cops said.
The NYPD told Streetsblog that the male driver, 23, was heading southbound on 160th Street at around 10 a.m. when he attempted to making a right turn onto Sanford Avenue. That's where he struck the cyclist, 48-year-old Xi Zheng, who was traveling westbound on Sanford.
Xi had the right of way, as there was no stop sign or light governing his motion. The truck driver had a stop sign.
The F150, one of the heaviest pickups on the market, is notorious for its involvement in traffic crashes. The vehicle's tall hood, recessed cab, and other defensive features prevent its driver from seeing pedestrians, cyclists, children and other cars.
Crashes are somewhat rare in the surrounding neighborhood, but occur roughly eight times per year. Since 2012, there have been 116 reported crashes, injuring 39 people, including three cyclists and seven pedestrians in the blocks around the crash site, according to city stats.
Sanford Avenue and 160th Street is a difficult intersection. It has no signals, and 160th Street turns from a south-bound one-way street into a two-way street just south of Sanford. There are markings for cyclists, but they are fairly meager: a one-way west-bound unprotected bike lane on Sanford, and sharrows on the south-bound lane of 160th Street south of Sanford.
The driver remained on scene and the NYPD did not immediately charge him. Paramedics transported Xi to New-York Presbyterian Queens, where he died. He's the first traditional cyclist to be killed this year, according to the Department of Transportation. Xi lived a few blocks away from the crash site.
Overall crashes are down from last year, according to the NYPD, but in the first 11 days of 2026, 193 cyclists and e-cyclists have been injured in crashes, a stunning 17 per day. That's actually a decline from the same period last year.
This story was updated with the name of the victim.
