SUV driver turns left; motorcyclist dies near Brooklyn mall
A Ford Escape driver turning left into Gateway Plaza Mall collided with motorcyclist Lamonte Johnston on Gateway Drive at 10:04 p.m. on August 8, 2022; Johnston died at a hospital.
Approximate reported location.
What We Know
A Ford Escape driver turned left toward Gateway Plaza Mall on Gateway Drive as Lamonte Johnston, 36, approached on a motorcycle on August 8, 2022. Johnston died at Brookdale University Medical Center. The SUV driver and two passengers had minor injuries. The city recorded failure to yield right-of-way as a factor for the SUV driver. Accounts differ on the driver's direction of travel: the Daily News said the driver and Johnston had been traveling in the same direction, while 1010 WINS and the city vehicle record place the SUV southbound and Johnston northbound. The Daily News reported on August 9 that the driver had not been charged.
The driver turned left toward the shopping center
The Ford Escape driver was turning left toward Gateway Plaza Mall when the driver and Johnston collided on Gateway Drive. Johnston was riding a KTM motorcycle. The collision occurred at 10:04 p.m. on August 8, 2022.
Accounts differ on the SUV driver's direction
The city vehicle record and 1010 WINS place the SUV driver southbound and Johnston northbound. The Daily News instead reported that both had been traveling in the same direction before the turn.
The collision occurred outside Gateway Plaza Mall
The city recorded the crash on Gateway Drive near Schroeders Avenue in Brooklyn. Reporters placed it outside Gateway Plaza Mall in East New York, where the SUV driver was turning toward the shopping center.
Johnston died; three SUV occupants were injured
Lamonte Johnston was 36 and lived about two miles from the crash site, according to police as reported by the Daily News. Medics took him to Brookdale University Medical Center, where he died.
The 34-year-old SUV driver, a 40-year-old woman and a young girl were also taken to Brookdale with minor injuries.
The city recorded a failure to yield
The city vehicle record assigns failure to yield right-of-way to the SUV driver. That recorded factor does not resolve the disagreement between news reports about the driver's direction of travel.
Police investigated the collision
1010 WINS reported that the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad was investigating. The Daily News reported on August 9 that the SUV driver had not been charged.