A man intentionally struck a cyclist and killed him in Brooklyn. The accident occurred Sunday morning around 6:00 am on Broadway near Ellery St. in Bushwick. The driver of the SUV whose car had been broken in earlier saw the cyclists fiddling with cars and got out of his Jeep Grand Cherokee to question him. The conversation got heated and the cyclist took off on his bike. The driver got back into his SUV and chased him. He sped after him in the oncoming lane of traffic and slammed into him, crushing him against the parked cars. The impact was so violent that the SUV flipped onto its side. The entire accident was caught by a surveillance video.
The 47 year old cyclist died at the scene of the accident and the 41 year old driver was taken into custody. Charges are pending. Two parked cars and a semi-truck were also damaged in the collision. The police found two car stereos, a screwdriver, a set of Allen wrenches, and a fake pistol laying amidst the wreckage.
Using a car as a weapon for a vigilante act is completely unacceptable
Sadly confrontations between cyclists and car drivers occur frequently in New York and in response drivers use their car to intimidate cyclists. In July 2016, Matthew von Ohlen was killed in a bike lane on Grand Street in Brooklyn after an enraged driver chased him and drove into the bike lane to intentionally strike him. The driver who was identified as 57 year old Juan Maldonado was found guilty of manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal crash, and reckless driving. He is now in prison and might stay there for up to 15 years.
Brad Lander’s Reckless Driver Accountability Act and Speaker Johnson’s Streets Master Plan Bill are both addressing reckless driving and street safety but so far they haven’t passed.
Read more in the Gothamist