Monday’s Headlines: Fatally Blocked Bike Lane Edition

Another blocked bike lane, another hit-and-run, another dead cyclist.

A driver struck and killed a 32-year-old cyclist before fleeing the scene at around 9:45 p.m. on Friday in the Hamilton Heights section of Uptown Manhattan, police said.

The driver was going south on Amsterdam Avenue in a 2021 Dodge Durango when he “sideswiped” the cyclist, who crashed into an unoccupied minivan that photos from the aftermath of the crash showed was parked illegally in the street’s unprotected bike lane, according to cops.

NYPD’s communications department did not mention the minivan’s location in the bike lane, but images broadcast by several TV stations clearly show the vehicle blocking the cycle path.

Cops have yet to release the victim’s name pending family notification. Through May, drivers have killed seven cyclists.

Locals who spoke to the TV news expressed horror at the driver for fleeing the scene. Some griped about the dangers of cycling in the area.

“Sometimes you’ve got to look out for these cars,” one person told ABC 7. “These cars, they don’t see you — they’ll knock you down.”

PIX11 also covered the tragedy.

Here’s the news:

• Tomorrow is election day in the Big Apple. Here’s the best of what we read about it this weekend:
  • Hell Gate on Jessica vs. Jessica in western Queens.
  • Hell Gate on Chuck Park’s “Hail Mary” challenge to Rep. Grace Meng.
  • Rep. Adriano Espaillat blamed “gentrifiers” for high rents while speaking opposite his challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier at an event with Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. (City & State)
  • Reminder: Chevalier answered our questionnaire; Espaillat did not.
  • Michael Lange broke down the battle for NY-7. (The Narrative Wars)
• The New York Times look at the rise of, well, the rise of SUVs, a topic with which Streetsblog USA readers are well acquainted.
• The horse carriage industry remained on the defensive after the deaths of both a human passenger and a horse in the span of a few weeks. (amNY, PIX11, NBC 4, ABC 7, NY Post)
• NJ Transit’s expensive World Cup train ticket sales won’t cover the operating costs officials used to justify their pricetag. (NY Times)
• A drunk driver struck and critically injured a 78-year-old woman in Oceanside on Long Island. (ABC7)
• A man run over by an SUV driver while reportedly lying in the street in Manhattan died a month after the crash. (Daily News)
• And the Daily News also had more details about a teenager on a dirt bike who was killed by a driver.
• As always, Staten Islanders put car drivers before bus riders. (SI Advance)
• For Juneteenth, City Hall’s video team profiled Lorenzo Pace, the artist behind the Triumph of the Human Spirit sculpture at Foley Square. Of course, the video made no mention of the city’s refusal to enforce against illegal parking that is desecrating the work. (NYC Mayor’s Office via YouTube)