SUV driver hits e-bike rider who dies weeks later in Greenpoint.
A 62-year-old man driving an SUV hit 73-year-old e-bike rider Teddy Orzechowski at Monitor Street and Driggs Avenue in Brooklyn on May 12, 2023; Orzechowski died 19 days later, news reports said.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
A 62-year-old man driving a 2017 Infiniti SUV south on Monitor Street hit Orzechowski as he rode an e-bike west on Driggs Avenue; Orzechowski died after being hospitalized. Local advocates said the Greenpoint intersection near P.S. 110 and McGolrick Park had been the focus of long-running requests for safer street designs.
Reports give different times and model names.
The Daily News reported that a 62-year-old man driving south on Monitor Street hit Orzechowski as he rode an e-bike west on Driggs Avenue. The official crash record gives the time as 4:20 p.m.; the Daily News and El Diario report about 4:22 p.m.
The Daily News identified the SUV as a 2017 Infiniti QX6, while El Diario called it a 2017 Infiniti QX60. The official record lists a 2017 station wagon or SUV but does not specify a model.
Orzechowski was taken to a hospital after the collision.
The Daily News reported that Orzechowski, a 73-year-old Bayside resident, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center and initially listed in stable condition. It said he died at about 11:05 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 days after the collision. Streetsblog also reported that he died in a hospital nearly three weeks after the crash.
Residents had pushed for street changes near the school.
Streetsblog placed the intersection between P.S. 110 and McGolrick Park in Greenpoint and reported that residents and advocates had long described it as dangerous. Advocates proposed changes including stop signs, daylighted intersections and a bike lane on Driggs Avenue. Chris Roberti, chair of the PTA's Safe Streets Committee, said school leaders withdrew a request for a play street after residents opposed it.
Noel Hidalgo, a co-founder of a local open-streets coalition who witnessed the aftermath, said, "This death was preventable."
The driver remained at the scene.
The Daily News reported that the driver was uninjured and remained at the scene. At the time of its June 2 report, charges had not been immediately filed and the investigation was ongoing.