MTA bus driver fatally strikes a pedestrian near Union Square.
A driver in a southbound MTA bus struck and killed 70-year-old Roberta Lehrman at Broadway and East 13th Street in Manhattan at 1:01 p.m. on June 7, 2023, according to news reports and the official record.
Approximate reported location.
What We Know
A driver in a southbound MTA express bus struck and killed 70-year-old Roberta Lehrman at Broadway and East 13th Street in Manhattan at 1:01 p.m. on June 7, 2023. The Daily News reported officials said the driver had stopped for a red light and moved forward when it turned green. Accounts differed on Lehrman's position: the official record classifies her as at an intersection, while a witness quoted in an earlier Daily News report said she was crossing mid-block. The driver remained at the scene. Lehrman was a retired teacher who loved travel and gardening, friends said.
The witness and official record differed on Lehrman's position.
The Daily News reported that officials said a southbound, Staten Island-bound MTA express bus had stopped at a red light. After it turned green, the driver moved forward and struck Lehrman.
The official record classifies Lehrman's location as at an intersection, while a witness quoted in the Daily News's first report said she was crossing mid-block.
The intersection is near Union Square Park.
The official record places the crash at Broadway and East 13th Street in Manhattan at 1:01 p.m. on June 7, 2023. 1010 WINS reported that the site was one block from Union Square Park.
Friends remembered Lehrman for her energy and independence.
The Daily News described Lehrman as a Brooklyn woman and retired teacher. She taught at John Jay High School and later Brooklyn Technical High School, where she focused on reading, writing and thinking skills and worked with the student newspaper.
Friend Mary Demorest met Lehrman during a vacation in Costa Rica about 18 months earlier. Demorest recalled her love of travel and gardening, telling the Daily News, “She was fun, spirited and had so much energy. We couldn’t keep up with her.”
Police made no arrest at the scene.
The Daily News reported that the driver remained at the scene. 1010 WINS reported that emergency responders pronounced Lehrman dead there and that police made no arrest at the scene. CBS reported that police then suspected no criminality, and the Daily News reported the next day that no criminal charges had been filed.