Van driver charged after Brooklyn flagger killed on Myrtle Ave
A driver identified by police as Clyde Mercury was charged after an Oct. 29, 2024 crash at Myrtle Avenue and Walworth Street in Brooklyn in which 37-year-old construction flagger Luis Mario Sangurima died and a motorist was injured.
What We Know
A 37-year-old man working in the roadway on Myrtle Avenue near Walworth Street in Brooklyn was killed in the afternoon when drivers in four oversized vehicles passed through his work area. According to the police report, a box truck and a pickup were traveling east and a flatbed truck and an SUV were traveling west when they hit and fatally injured him.
A pass beside a work zone turned fatal
Police told the Daily News that Clyde Mercury was driving east on Myrtle Avenue in an Enterprise rental van when he tried to pass a slow-moving box truck near Walworth Street. Police said Mercury moved into oncoming traffic beside a construction zone, sideswiped the box truck, hit Luis Mario Sangurima and then hit an oncoming Honda Odyssey.
The city crash record places the crash at 1:53 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2024, and records one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured.
Myrtle Avenue has a long crash record
The crash happened at Myrtle Avenue and Walworth Street in Brooklyn, in the 11205 ZIP code.
CrashCountNYC location context for Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn shows 1,603 crashes, 853 injuries, 44 serious injuries and 5 deaths along the corridor since 2022.
Luis Mario Sangurima was directing traffic
Medics took Sangurima to Woodhull Hospital, where he died, the Daily News reported. Police told the paper he lived in Newark.
Sources describe the involved vehicles differently
The Daily News described the driver’s vehicle as an Enterprise rental van and reported that a box truck and an oncoming Honda Odyssey were also involved. The city vehicle record uses different classifications, listing a 2023 Ford pickup truck, a 2004 Freightliner box truck, a 2018 Honda station wagon or sport utility vehicle and a 2018 KW flatbed.