MTA bus driver fatally strikes retired teacher near Union Square
An MTA bus driver struck and killed 70-year-old pedestrian Roberta Lehrman at Broadway and East 13th Street in Manhattan at 1:01 p.m. on June 7, 2023, according to the crash record and police accounts reported by the Daily News.
Approximate reported location.
What We Know
Police accounts reported by the Daily News said the southbound driver moved forward after a red light turned green and struck Lehrman. An initial witness account put her crossing mid-block, while the crash record records her location as at the intersection. The driver remained at the scene, and no criminal charges had been filed by the next day.
The reported sequence began at a red light.
The Daily News reported that officials said the southbound, Staten Island-bound MTA bus had stopped at a red light. After the light turned green, the driver moved forward and struck Lehrman.
Accounts differed about Lehrman’s crossing location. An initial Daily News report attributed to a witness that she was crossing mid-block, while the crash record records her location as at the intersection.
The crash happened near Union Square.
The crash record places the collision at Broadway and East 13th Street in Manhattan. 1010 WINS reported that the location was a block from Union Square Park.
Lehrman was a retired teacher who loved travel and gardening.
Lehrman 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, the Daily News reported.
Her friend Mary Demorest recalled Lehrman’s energy and independent travel, as well as her love of gardening and New York. Demorest said, “She was fun, spirited and had so much energy. We couldn’t keep up with her.”
The driver remained at the scene.
The Daily News reported that the driver stayed at the scene and that no criminal charges had been filed as of June 8. CBS reported on June 7 that police said no criminality was suspected at that point; 1010 WINS reported that police made no arrest at the scene.