FDNY Pickup Driver Kills E-Bike Rider in Park Slope
At 8:11 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2024, a driver in an FDNY unit responding to a 911 call for a choking baby hit and killed a 24-year-old e-bike rider at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street in Brooklyn, according to press accounts and city crash records.
What We Know
At about 8:11 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2024, a driver in an FDNY unit hit a 24-year-old e-bike rider at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street in Park Slope. The official crash record lists one cyclist killed and one motorist injured. Press accounts said the FDNY driver was responding to a 911 call for a choking baby and had emergency lights on; Brooklyn Paper reported two open questions at the time: whether the siren was activated and whether the driver had a green light. The Daily News described the unit as an FDNY EMS vehicle, while Brooklyn Paper and the official record described a pickup truck. The driver stayed at the scene, and the Daily News reported that no charges were immediately filed.
An FDNY driver was headed to an emergency call
City crash records place the fatal crash at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street in Brooklyn at 8:11 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2024. The record lists a 24-year-old male bicyclist killed and one motorist injured.
Brooklyn Paper reported that the FDNY driver was headed north on Fourth Avenue while the e-bike rider was headed east on Sackett Street. FDNY officials told the paper the driver was responding to a 911 call for a choking baby and had emergency lights on.
The Daily News described the FDNY unit as an EMS vehicle. Brooklyn Paper described the driver as an FDNY pickup truck driver, and the official record lists a pickup truck.
The rider was taken to Brooklyn Methodist
Brooklyn Paper identified the rider as Victor Hidalgo, a Bronx resident and delivery worker. The Daily News also said he lived in the Bronx, but spelled his surname Hildago.
Paramedics took the rider to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Brooklyn Paper, citing Streetsblog, reported that he was survived by his wife and 1-year-old son, who lived in his native Mexico.
Key signal and siren details were not resolved in early reports
Brooklyn Paper reported two open questions after the crash: whether the FDNY driver had activated a siren, and whether the driver had a green light while crossing the intersection.
Fourth Avenue had a long crash record before and after this death
The crash happened at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street in Park Slope. Brooklyn Paper reported that Sackett Street has a painted bike lane that overlaps with the vehicle traffic lane and has no physical separation.
CrashCountNYC location data for Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn show 2,076 crashes, 1,379 injuries, 78 serious injuries and 10 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
The driver stayed, and other units handled the emergency call
The Daily News reported that the 44-year-old FDNY driver remained at the scene and that no charges were immediately filed. Brooklyn Paper also reported that the driver stopped and stayed at the scene.
FDNY officials told the Daily News that other units handled the choking-baby call, and that the FDNY unit involved in the crash was one of four units called to that emergency.