Driver Hits Fallen Pedestrian at Flatbush Intersection
Police told reporters a 58-year-old Toyota Highlander driver hit Aracely Courtenay after she fell in the roadway at East 21st Street and Ditmas Avenue, where the city crash record lists a 50-year-old pedestrian killed.
What We Know
Aracely Courtenay, 50, was crossing East 21st Street near Ditmas Avenue in Flatbush shortly before 7 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2023, when police said she stepped into a depression in the roadway and fell. Reporters cited police saying a 58-year-old driver in a 2015 Toyota Highlander was traveling north on East 21st Street and turning right onto Ditmas Avenue when he hit her. The public accounts emphasize her fall; the official pedestrian entry records crossing against the signal. Courtenay suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital. Police said the driver remained at the scene, and the Post reported he had not been charged.
Police said she fell before the turn
Courtenay was trying to cross East 21st Street just before 7 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2023, when police said she stepped into a depression in the street and fell. A 58-year-old man driving a 2015 Toyota Highlander north on East 21st Street was making a right turn onto Ditmas Avenue when he hit her, according to the press accounts.
City crash data records one pedestrian killed at the intersection and no other injuries. The official person entry says the pedestrian was crossing against the signal, while the news accounts centered on the roadway depression and fall.
Aracely Courtenay served a nearby church
The New York Post identified Courtenay as a beloved Brooklyn pastor, a married mother of three and the “first lady” at Emmanuel Church of God, about a half-mile from the crash scene. The Post reported that she led a women’s ministry and that her husband, Bishop Curt Courtenay, served as senior pastor.
Ditmas Avenue has seen repeated harm
The crash happened at East 21st Street and Ditmas Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn. CrashCountNYC location context identifies Ditmas Avenue in Brooklyn as a corridor with 603 crashes, 409 injuries, 16 serious injuries and 5 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Records emphasize different parts of the same moment
The city person record attributes a vulnerable-road-user error factor to the pedestrian and lists the action as crossing against the signal. The articles, citing police, said Courtenay stepped into a depression in the street and fell before the driver turned.
The driver stayed at the scene
Officers found Courtenay with severe head trauma. Emergency responders took her to Kings County Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Both articles reported that the driver remained at the scene. amNY said no arrests had been made, and the Post reported that police said the driver had not been charged.