Truck Driver's Left Turn Preceded Motorcyclist's Death
A 30-year-old motorcycle driver died after a 50-year-old truck driver turned left off Meadow Street onto Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg, according to the official crash record and amNY's police account.
What We Know
Daniel Vidal, 30, was riding north on Morgan Avenue on the morning of Aug. 4, 2022, when a man driving what police described to amNY as a flatbed truck made a left turn off Meadow Street. The crash happened around 9:30 a.m. in East Williamsburg. The official record lists one death, identifies the person killed as the motorcycle driver, and cites improper passing or lane use for the motorbike. Paramedics took Vidal to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. amNY reported that the truck driver stayed at the scene and that police did not suspect criminality.
The crash on Morgan Avenue
The official crash record says the crash happened at 9:32 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2022, on Morgan Avenue and killed one motorist. The record identifies the person killed as a 30-year-old male motorcycle driver traveling north.
amNY, citing police, reported that Daniel Vidal was heading north on a motorcycle when a 50-year-old man driving a flatbed truck made a left turn off Meadow Street and the crash followed.
Daniel Vidal was identified as a delivery worker
Police identified the victim to amNY as Daniel Vidal of Jefferson Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. amNY reported that paramedics took him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Friends and fellow delivery workers mourned at the scene. Gustavo Ajche of Los Deliveristas Unidos told amNY that Vidal was known locally as Dani.
Sources describe the second driver and vehicle differently
The official record lists a 2021 Ex-Pro motorbike traveling north and a 2022 INTL-Truck/Bus Carry All, normalized in the record as a sedan, traveling east and making a left turn.
amNY's account, citing police, described the second driver as a 50-year-old man driving a flatbed truck. The article reported that he stayed at the scene.
Recorded factor and police assessment
The official record cites improper passing or lane use as a contributing factor for the motorbike. amNY reported that police did not suspect criminality in the case.
An industrial corridor with unprotected bike lanes
amNY described Morgan Avenue through East Williamsburg as a two-way industrial corridor with bike lanes that are not protected from vehicle traffic.
The article also noted a prior fatal crash three blocks away in 2011, when a flatbed truck driver hit and killed cyclist Mathieu Lefevre at Meserole Street.