Truck Driver Fatally Hits Delivery Worker on Morgan Avenue
A man driving a flatbed truck turned left off Meadow Street and hit delivery worker Daniel Vidal on Morgan Avenue on Aug. 4, 2022; the official record listed the 30-year-old motorbike driver as the crash's lone fatality.
What We Know
Daniel Vidal, 30, was riding north on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg on the morning of Aug. 4, 2022, when a man driving a flatbed truck made a left turn off Meadow Street and hit him, according to amNY. The official crash record listed one fatality: the motorbike driver. Paramedics took Vidal to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police told amNY the 50-year-old driver stayed at the scene and that they did not suspect criminality. The city crash record listed improper passing or lane use as a contributing factor tied to the motorbike, while the news account focused on the truck driver's left turn and the industrial corridor's risks for riders.
A left turn off Meadow Street ended in a fatal crash
The crash happened on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg at about 9:32 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2022. The official record listed a northbound motorbike driver and an eastbound driver making a left turn.
amNY reported that Daniel Vidal was riding north on Morgan Avenue when a man driving a flatbed truck made a left turn off Meadow Street and hit him. Paramedics took Vidal to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Daniel Vidal was remembered by fellow delivery workers
Police identified the victim to amNY as Daniel Vidal, 30, of Jefferson Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Friends and fellow delivery workers gathered near the cordoned-off scene, hugging and crying.
Gustavo Ajche, a founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, told amNY that Vidal was known locally as Dani.
Records and press accounts described the larger vehicle differently
The official record listed Vidal's ride as a 2021 EX-PRO motorbike traveling north. It listed the other driver as traveling east and making a left turn in a 2022 vehicle categorized as a Carry All, with INTL-TRUCK/BUS make information.
amNY described the other driver as a 50-year-old man operating a flatbed truck or heavy hauler. The article said the driver stayed at the scene.
The official factor and police account do not say the same thing
The city crash record listed improper passing or lane use as the contributing factor and tied that factor to the motorbike entry.
Police told amNY they did not suspect criminality in the case. The article reported the truck driver's left turn as the key movement before impact.
Morgan Avenue runs through an industrial corridor with past fatal crashes
amNY described Morgan Avenue as a two-way corridor through an industrial area of East Williamsburg. The article said the street has bike lanes but no protection from vehicle traffic.
The same report noted that in 2011, another flatbed truck driver hit and killed cyclist Mathieu Lefevre three blocks away at Meserole Street.