Hit-and-Run Drivers Killed Three Cyclists in Three Days

Hit-and-run drivers killed three New York City cyclists in three separate crashes this week, with the latest victim a 40-year-old Brooklyn man struck late Thursday night in Flatlands, NYPD said.

Mamadou Diallo, of Canarsie, was attempting to turn south onto E. 54th Street from Avenue I at 11:49 p.m. on Thursday when an eastbound BMW driver struck him head-on, sending his body flying into a nearby parked car, a police department spokesman said.

The BMW driver left the scene, according to NYPD — the third alleged hit-and-run driver to kill a cyclist in as many days, after two fatal crashes in Brooklyn and the Bronx on Tuesday.

Paulina Tec Choc, 29, was waiting on her bike at the light at Jamaica Avenue and Cypress Hills Street early Tuesday morning when the driver of a 2006 Ford F-250 headed westbound struck her from behind then ran her over and fled the scene, police said. That night at around 9:30 p.m., another hit-and-run driver allegedly sped through a red light in the Bronx and killed 51-year-old cyclist Angelo Camera, according to NYPD. The same driver then struck another car, sending its driver to the hospital as well.

Camara left behind five children, CBS New York reported. One relative described him as “a good man.” His wife told the Daily News that he had called just 10 minutes before the fatal crash to say he would be home soon.

Police have yet to locate any of the alleged hit-and-run drivers behind the three fatal crashes.

Tec Choc, a native of Guatemala, was a daily e-bike commuter who rode the street regularly to get her job at a nearby Sonic Drive-In, her manager told Streetsblog on Tuesday.

“She goes this way every day. She was on her way to work when she got hit,” said Osman Cevallos, 60, of Rockaway, who told Streetsblog he was Tec Choc’s boss at the Sonic.

Cevallos said police told him Pec’s bike was street-legal and had a top speed of 25 miles per hour — the legal limit.

“If there was a [bike] lane, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. It’s a crazy street,” he said. “I drive every day, since 1989 in NYC. It’s devastating. It reminds you, you’ve got to be careful.”

All told, more than 3,000 people have died in New York City traffic crashes since the city officially declared its goal of “Vision Zero.” Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration once pledged to get to zero traffic deaths by 2024.

Now advocates want Mayor Mamdani to come up with “a plan to stop the carnage and protect all New Yorkers from preventable crashes.” Transportation Alternatives will host a “die-in” protest in City Hall Park at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“Three hard-working New Yorkers are dead, and three families are heartbroken with grief. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Ben Furnas, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “These three New Yorkers lost their lives because they rode a bike in a city that, despite years of steady progress, still does not ensure safe rides for them.”

With Poppy Wilkinson