85 year old Rafael Nieves was walking back home from a trip to the supermarket around 1pm in Williamsburg. As he was crossing Grand Street near Lorimer a dump truck ran over him. The driver didn’t even stop. The police located him later on. According to their investigation the truck driver didn’t know he hit someone. Nieves, a Puerto Rican military veteran leaves behind him two children and five grand children.
A few hours later, around 4:45 pm, a 70 year old bicyclist died after being hit by a delivery truck. Iosif Plazinsky was riding his bike on Avenue X near Coney Island Ave. The bicyclist was hit twice by the truck. After the first collision he lost balance and fell. Then the truck veered to the right and struck him again. Plazinsky was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. Plazinsky was a retired construction worker from Odessa. He lived in Brighton Beach with his family. He had 3 grand children and one about to be born.
The third fatal accident took place in East Flatbush. A man lost control of his vehicle, struck five other cars and a pedestrian. The pedestrian, 43 year old Marlon Palacios, was going to pick up his 4 year old son at a day care center. According to the NY Daily News, the driver may have suffered a medical episode. Palacios was a maintenance person and the father of two children. He worked in Manhattan and lived in Brooklyn, near the location of the accident.
Since the beginning of 2017, traffic accidents have killed 6 pedestrians and 1 bicyclist in New York City. On Monday, the snowy conditions made the streets particularly dangerous in the city.