NYPD Crash Investigations

Luis Bravo's death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver wasn't the first warning sign about the dangers of walking along Broadway between 69th Street and Northern Boulevard in Woodside. In March of last year, Ed Surmenian, who lives at the intersection with 61st Street, said drivers regularly speed down Broadway and contacted Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer to complain.

Last weekend, another New York City pedestrian was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

This morning, the City Council's transportation and public safety committees held a joint oversight hearing of NYPD's crash investigation policies. It was the first time committee chairs James Vacca and Peter Vallone had put police brass on the spot since February 2012, when a joint oversight hearing unearthed new information about NYPD's lackluster crash investigations. Since then, NYPD has initiated some reforms, but today's testimony showed that the department's internal changes only go so far. Much more progress must be made before New York has truly comprehensive crash investigations.

Two weeks after a woman was killed while crossing Queens Plaza, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, joined by other elected officials and community leaders, stood at the busy intersection to call for better NYPD crash investigations, safety measures from DOT, and a citywide zero-tolerance policy for pedestrian deaths. Van Bramer's press conference comes just days before the City Council's public safety and transportation committees hold an oversight hearing on reforming NYPD crash investigations.

A driver who was reportedly listening to loud music when he drove over a 5-year-old and nearly hit her sister in Sunset Park yesterday has yet to be charged or ticketed.

Another curb-jumping driver has killed a NYC pedestrian, and as usual no charges have been filed by NYPD.

A child who was struck by a curb-jumping motorist near a Maspeth school last Thursday died two days later. Parents this week vented to Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and DOT about unsafe conditions in the area. No charges have been filed against the driver by NYPD or Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, and after immediately declaring the crash an "accident," Crowley has had nothing to say about the investigation.

Two drivers, one of them unlicensed, collided at an intersection in Dyker Heights late Tuesday morning with sufficient force to send a pickup truck through a bus shelter where several people were waiting for the B4. James McCloskey, 71, was killed. NYPD says no one did anything wrong.

NYPD says the Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the Thursday curb-jump crash that injured five children in Maspeth, but District Attorney Richard Brown's office says no subpoenas for cell phone records or EDR data have been issued, as police have determined there is "no criminality." At least three of the victims remain in the hospital with serious injuries.