Driver involved in fatal e-bike crash in Sunset Park
A driver was reported to have turned left before a 49-year-old e-bike rider died in a crash at Fourth Avenue and 53rd Street in Brooklyn at 9:10 a.m. on May 22, 2024, though a witness cited by Streetsblog disputed that sequence.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Police accounts described a driver turning left as a 49-year-old man rode south on an e-bike, but a witness cited by Streetsblog disputed that account and said the driver had traveled west on 53rd Street without turning from Fourth Avenue. Reports differ on whether the driver was operating a pickup or an SUV. News outlets reported that the rider was taken to NYU Langone Hospital, where he died.
The rider was taken to a hospital.
Police accounts reported that the rider was a 49-year-old man. News outlets said he suffered head and body injuries, was taken to NYU Langone Hospital and died there.
AmNewYork reported that the driver was 40 and remained at the scene. Streetsblog reported that police said the driver was not charged at the time of its report.
Accounts differ on how the crash unfolded.
AmNewYork reported that police described the rider traveling south on Fourth Avenue as a Chevrolet pickup driver coming from the opposite direction turned left onto 53rd Street; it said the rider collided with the pickup. Streetsblog's account of police information also described a northbound driver turning left, but said the driver struck the rider in the protected bike lane.
Streetsblog reported that a witness instead said the vehicle had traveled west on 53rd Street the entire time and had not turned from Fourth Avenue. The outlet said police declined to provide further information.
The official record lists the pickup's direction as west and its pre-crash maneuver as a left turn. These entries do not resolve the differing accounts.
Reports differ on the vehicle description.
The official record identifies a 2007 Chevrolet pickup, and several reports also describe a pickup; News 12 identifies a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado. The Brooklyn Eagle instead describes the driver's vehicle as an SUV.
The crash happened at a busy Sunset Park intersection.
The crash occurred at Fourth Avenue and 53rd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, at 9:10 a.m. on May 22, 2024.
Transportation Alternatives told AmNewYork that the protected bike lane disappears at the intersection and called for turn-calming measures and a narrower roadway.