Driver leaves after fatal FDR Drive crash with FDNY firefighter
A 31-year-old motorcyclist was killed on the FDR Drive early July 24, and police told news outlets that a driver hit off-duty FDNY firefighter Matthew Goicochea after he fell from his motorcycle and left the scene.
What We Know
Matthew Goicochea, a 31-year-old off-duty FDNY firefighter, was riding north on the FDR Drive early July 24, 2025, when police said he fell from his 2023 Yamaha motorcycle. Police accounts cited by local outlets say a driver in another vehicle hit him afterward and did not remain at the scene. The city crash record lists one motorist killed at 3:48 a.m. on the FDR Drive and records driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. Goicochea had joined the FDNY in 2022 and had received the Thomas Wylie Medal in 2024 for rescuing an unconscious person from a Bronx fire. Police said the investigation was continuing, and outlets reported no arrests in the immediate aftermath.
Police described a fall from a motorcycle, then a hit-and-run
The city crash record lists the crash at 3:48 a.m. on July 24, 2025, on the FDR Drive, with one motorist killed and no other injuries recorded. The record identifies the person killed as a 31-year-old male motorcycle driver.
Police told several outlets that Matthew Goicochea was riding north when he fell from his motorcycle. ABC7 reported that a driver in another vehicle then hit Goicochea as he lay on the roadway and did not remain at the scene. Gothamist reported a slightly different police account, saying a driver hit his motorcycle moments later and left. Patch reported that police said Goicochea may have fallen off the motorcycle and been hit by a car.
The crash was reported on the northbound FDR Drive
The official record places the crash on the FDR Drive in Manhattan. News accounts describe the scene as the northbound FDR Drive near either East 25th Street, West 25th Street, or 23rd Street, reflecting a difference in published location details.
The man killed was an off-duty FDNY firefighter
Multiple outlets identified the motorcyclist as Matthew Goicochea, 31. ABC7 and West Side Spirit reported that he was off duty at the time of the crash.
The FDNY said Goicochea joined the department in September 2022. Gothamist and West Side Spirit reported that he received the Thomas Wylie Medal in 2024 for rescuing an unconscious person from a fire in the Bronx. West Side Spirit reported that he was stationed at Ladder 41 in the Bronx.
The crash record lists a 2023 Yamaha motorcycle
The official vehicle record lists a 2023 Yamaha motorcycle traveling north and going straight ahead before the crash. It records one occupant, the driver.
Gothamist and West Side Spirit also described Goicochea as riding a Yamaha motorcycle. The public reports did not provide identifying details about the driver who left the scene.
Investigators cited driver inattention in the crash record
The city crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor. News outlets also reported police statements that Goicochea lost control or failed to navigate the roadway before the later impact described by police.
The published accounts reviewed for this page reported that the NYPD's Highway Collision Investigation Squad was investigating.
Police reported no immediate arrests
Patch, Gothamist, and West Side Spirit reported that no arrests had been made in the immediate aftermath. Daily Voice reported that authorities asked anyone with information to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers.
CBS New York reported that the crash shut down all northbound lanes of the FDR Drive at 23rd Street during the morning commute and that the lanes reopened around 7:30 a.m.