SEE IT! Reckless Cop Strikes Cyclist After Running Red Light In An Unmarked Car
An NYPD officer driving an unmarked car ran a red light and hit a cyclist on Monday afternoon in Boerum Hill, sending her to the hospital, witnesses said.
The officer was driving on Atlantic Avenue at around 5 p.m. when she drove through the red light at Hoyt Street, where four cyclists and six pedestrians were already in various stages of crossing Atlantic, according to security footage obtained by Streetsblog from an area business and a witness.
The cop hit the first of those cyclists, whose name has not been released. She was on an electric Citi Bike and the video suggests that she was aware that she was about to be hit, as she slows up slightly after catching the cops out of the corner of her eye.
After the crash, three cops from the 73rd Precinct — which covers Ocean Hill-Brownsville several miles to the east — got out of the unmarked car.
Witnesses were horrified at the recklessness.
“There was a gasp from people in the crosswalk when it happened,” an employee at Free Range Wine and Spirits, a popular local bottle shop, told Streetsblog.
The footage and a witness confirmed that the officers were not driving with lights and sirens, which is required by department policy when responding to an emergency. Barring that, NYPD officers are required to obey traffic laws.
The extent of the cyclist’s injuries is unclear; she was able to stand after the crash but was taken from the scene in an ambulance, according to a witness. The officers remained on the scene.
“Luckily, she got up,” said another wine store employee. “There’s no reason the cops should’ve driven like that.”
Two of the officers, Blanca Guevara Rivera and Kelvin Ventura, have been with the NYPD for about a year. The identity of the third officer was not clear, nor is it clear who was driving.
NYPD detectives were on the scene within hours of the crash, according to another local business, asking for footage of the crash.
“They didn’t tell us they were investigating themselves,” said another employee.
It does not appear that the officers were engaged in a high-speed chase, a tactic that thez NYPD ramped up early in the Adams administration, but one that was curtailed shortly after Jessica Tisch became top cop, as Streetsblog reported.
The NYPD did not respond to a message seeking comment for this article, which will be updated if we hear back.
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