FDNY driver hit and killed cyclist in Park Slope crash
Safer Work
An FDNY driver responding to a report of a choking baby hit and killed 24-year-old cyclist Victor Hidalgo at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street on Oct. 30, 2024; the official record lists the crash at 8:11 p.m., while news accounts reported about 8:15 p.m.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Police reporting cited by 1010 WINS said a 44-year-old FDNY driver was heading north on Fourth Avenue with emergency lights activated when he hit Hidalgo, who was riding east on Sackett Street. FDNY said the driver was responding to a report of a choking baby; reports differed about whether the vehicle was a pickup truck, fire truck or ambulance and whether its siren was activated.
The driver was responding to an emergency call.
1010 WINS, citing the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad, reported that the driver was heading north on Fourth Avenue with emergency lights activated when he hit Hidalgo, who was riding east on Sackett Street. FDNY said the driver was responding to a 911 call about a choking baby.
The official crash record gives the time as 8:11 p.m.; news reports place it at about 8:15 p.m. News accounts said EMS took Hidalgo to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sackett Street’s painted bike lane shares space with traffic.
The crash happened at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street in Park Slope. Brooklyn Paper reported that Sackett Street’s painted bike lane overlaps with the vehicle traffic lane and has no physical separation.
Hidalgo worked to support his family.
News reports identified Hidalgo, 24, as a Bronx resident and delivery worker. El Diario reported that he was born in the United States, grew up in Mexico, studied sociology there and moved to New York hoping to bring his wife and 1-year-old son, who were in Mexico, to join him.
His aunt told El Diario that he worked seven days a week, making weekday deliveries for a Harlem pharmacy and working for other delivery services on weekends. The paper reported that he left school after becoming a father and that his family was raising money to return his body to Mexico.
Reports differed about the emergency vehicle and siren.
The official crash record lists a pickup truck and an e-bike. Brooklyn Paper and 1010 WINS described the FDNY vehicle as a pickup truck, Patch called it a fire truck, and El Diario described it as an ambulance; other reports called it an EMS vehicle.
Patch reported, citing police, that the siren was on. Brooklyn Paper said it was not immediately clear whether the siren was activated or whether the driver had a green light.
The driver stayed at the scene.
News 12 reported that the driver remained at the scene, no charges had been filed as of Thursday evening, and the cause was under investigation. The Daily News reported that the FDNY vehicle was one of four units called to the baby-choking emergency and that other units handled that call.