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Articles Tagged with brooklyn wrongful death

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trucks-kills-cyclist-tweetA cyclist was killed in a truck accident in NYC last week.

41 year old Pedro Lopez is the first cyclist to die in a traffic accident in New York City in 2020. He was killed by a reckless truck driver who was making an illegal U-turn at high speed on Vandervoort Avenue in Brooklyn. The accident occured on Thursday around 2:40 pm. The cyclist was rear ended by the truck. He was rushed to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Despite a video showing the recklessness of the truck driver, the police didn’t charge him

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Third-avenueTo reduce pedestrian and cyclist fatalities caused by cars and trucks on two of the busiest and most dangerous avenues in Brooklyn, the NYC DOT announced that the maximum speed limit was lowered from 30 mph to 25 mph. New signs are up and speed cameras have been re-calibrated on Third Ave and Hamilton Avenue in Brooklyn. The DOT decided to take action after 6 people including 3 cyclists and 3 pedestrians died in traffic accidents on Third Avenue last year. Two of them were killed in the same week in December.

The area around Third avenue and Hamilton Avenue has been changing a lot in the past years with more and more residential properties being developed. However there are still a lot of trucks coming in and out of the Gowanus, making the area particularly dangerous.

Half of the 2019 fatalities involved trucks

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private-sanitation-truck-accidentA pedestrian was killed by a hit and run NYC private sanitation truck Thursday morning around 4:00. The accident took place on 86th Street and Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. According to the NY Daily News, 67 year old Deborah Mutell was found by the police lying in the street with her body split in two. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Investigators believe that after she was hit by the truck, she fell under the wheel and was dragged several feet until her body fell in pieces from the undercarriage of the truck. Investigators are still searching for the truck. Last week another sanitation truck killed a young boy and critically injured his mom.

A new and upcoming Citywide commercial waste zone system is expected to result in creating a safer environment for workers and the public alike

Sanitation trucks, especially those belonging to private companies are often very dangerous to pedestrians. Private carting companies have a bad reputation. They often operate with a blatant disrespect for the safety of their workers and of the public as well. Currently, around 90 private sanitation companies service customers all around the city. As a consequence, more than 50 individual carting companies may service a single neighborhood every day. This system not only put workers and pedestrians in danger but also pollutes the environment. It will be replace next year  by a new system.  A  Commercial Waste Zone Bill was passed a few months ago and is expected to improve work conditions, reduce pedestrian accidents and decrease pollution.

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accident sceneA 10 year old boy and a 68 year old woman died in two separate truck accidents in New York City last week. Both accidents occurred on the same day.

10 year old boy killed by NYC Sanitation truck

The first accident occurred in Queens last Tuesday around 7:00 am.  10 year old Shreejan Panthee was on his way to school with his mother Mina. Both of them were crossing the 57th Avenue crosswalk near 97th Street in Corona, Queens, when a NYC Sanitation truck made a right turn onto 57th Street from a nearby driveway and struck them. The boy was run over by the rear wheels and the mother was knocked down on the ground.  Both the mother and the child were rushed to the hospital. Shreejan died a few hours later. Her mother Mina was critically injured but survived. A man who witnessed the accident told the media that he screamed at the truck driver: “Slow down, you are going to hit them!”. Mina, her husband Purushottam Panthee and their son Shreejan came from Nepal in 2010. The husband works as a chemist in Long Island and the mother works in a beauty salon in the Bronx. Shreejan was a smart boy who won spelling bee prizes and enjoyed swimming. The Queens Nepali Community was in shock. A vigil was organized at night at the location of the accident. The truck driver wasn’t immediately charged by the police however he was placed on “modified duty,” and stripped of driving responsibilities by the NYC Sanitation Department.

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the intersection where the fatal accident occurred23 year old Joanna Dixon was killed in a car crash in New York City on the night of her birthday. The young woman was riding in a black Mazda car with another girlfriend and the driver when the accident occurred. The driver of the Mazda blew a stop sign on East 55th Street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn and was T-boned by a speeding white 2019 Nissan GT-R travelling east on Foster Ave. The impact was so strong that the Mazda spun out of control and hit a telephone pole. Debris were scattered all over the place up to a half block away from the intersection.  The driver of the Nissan stayed at the scene of the accident and was identified as Rohan Shaw, an off-duty NYPD officer working for the counter terrorism bureau’s critical command. The police found that the officer was not only speeding but he was also drunk at the time of the accident. He was initially charged charged with reckless driving, speeding, driving while impaired with alcohol, vehicle manslaughter and negligent homicide. However charges were dropped a day after the accident according to a law enforcement source in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.The driver of the Mazda took off by foot and hasn’t been found  yet. He left Joanna Dixon dying and her 22 year old best friend critically injured behind him. The accident occurred early Sunday morning just before 5:00 am.  The police have put up a sign at the scene of the crash asking for anyone who witnessed the crash to provide additional information. They are still looking for the driver of the Mazda.

Read more on NBC New York

Picture of the location of the accident: courtesy of Google Map

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Location of the fatal bicycle accidentAn 87 year old cyclist who was struck by a car in New York City last week died from his injuries. While the police blame the accident on the victim saying that he blew a red light, witnesses told the NY Daily News that the bicyclist had the right of way and that the car driver blew a red light.

The accident occurred last Tuesday at the intersection of Avenue P and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. The cyclist was riding west on Avenue P and was struck by the car as he was in the crosswalk. One of the witness, a female pedestrian, told the News that she was also about to cross the street after the light turned green in favor of the pedestrians when a black minivan zoomed out of nowhere, ran the red light and hit the cyclist. The witness saw the cyclist falling on the top of the car and said there was blood everywhere. The 36-year-old driver stayed at the scene of the accident and was not charged. The police maintained he had the green light.

The elderly cyclist was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He died from his injuries a few days later.

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location of the fatal bicycle accidentA NYC child riding a bike in a crosswalk was killed by a motorist who failed to yield while making a left turn. The accident occurred on Saturday morning around 10:30 am in Brooklyn, NYC. 10 year old Dalerjon Shahobidinov was on his bike in the crosswalk on Foster Avenue when 29 year old Victor Mejia made a left turn from Seton Place and recklessly slammed into him. Mejia stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found that he was driving without a license and charged him with failure to exercise due care, failure to yield and driving without a license. The driver  who never applied for a license, has a long history of reckless driving with 22 summonses that include two running red lights.

24 bicyclists killed in NYC in 2019

Dalerjon was a fourth grade student at PS 134 and has 3 other siblings. When the accident occurred he was riding with a group of friends with whom he was playing soccer in Prospect Park. The child is the 24th cyclist to die in a traffic accident in New York City this year. The victim before him was a senior e-bike rider. 62 year old Abul Bashar was a delivery cyclist for a restaurant. He was struck by a private sanitation truck on September 8th and could never recover from his injuries. He died on September 18th.

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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

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cyclist-nyc-e15620847726003 people died in bicycle accidents in NYC during the last 7 days.

Last Monday Robyn Hightman, a bike courier, was fatally struck by a truck on 6th Ave near 25th Street. Both the truck and the cyclist were heading in the same direction when they collided. The truck driver first didn’t stop but then returned to the scene of the accident after a witness in another car told him he hit someone. the driver told the police he didn’t know he hit the cyclist. Police said the driver was let go after he was hit with five summonses. The driver, 54 year old Antonio Garcia said it was the first time he had an accident since he started to work for his employer 14 years ago. However a look at the Howsmydrivingnyc.com indicates that the truck was hit with 83 violations since 2015 mostly for parking but also for speeding. A vigil was organized for Robyn during which hundreds of cyclists gathered and expressed not only their sadness but also their anger at authorities that are doing very little to hold drivers accountable. Robyn was the 12th cyclist in New York City to be killed in traffic this year.

Last Thursday night  around 9:00 pm, 57 year old Ernest Askew was fatally struck by an 18 year old driver on Sutter Avenue near Chester in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The car driver wasn’t arrested. Brownsville which is a low income community of color doesn’t have any protected bike lanes and there are not many efforts being made in regards to street safety. Cyclists share wide roadways with cars and speeding is common. At a vigil for Ernest Askew yesterday evening activists asked the city to address the lack of equity in low-income communities of color when it comes to protected bike lanes and street safety.

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Location of the fatal motorcycle accident in Brooklyn NYCA 28-year-old man was killed in a motorcycle accident in New York City, early Monday morning. He collided with a car driven by a 24-year-old drunk woman who was driving without a license.

Alexander Evron was riding his Kawasaki motorcycle South on Ocean Parkway around 3:55 am when he collided with an Infiniti car driven by Jasmin Morales-Cruz.

The motorcyclist was thrown off the bike. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved and was pronounced dead upon his arrival.