Truck driver fatally strikes pedestrian on Eastern Parkway.

Reports differ on the crossing and the driver's departure.

The official record places the crash at 5:18 a.m. on September 19, 2025, at Eastern Parkway and Schenectady Avenue, and counts one pedestrian killed. Brooklyn Paper, citing police, reported that an eastbound truck driver struck Koonce in a crosswalk; the official record categorizes her location as not at an intersection.

Brooklyn Paper, 1010 WINS and initial News 12 coverage said the driver did not remain at the scene. A later News 12 report said police were not investigating the crash as a hit-and-run because the driver claimed he had not seen Koonce in the road.

Koonce was part of the ICL community.

News 12 identified Koonce as a 69-year-old Brooklyn resident who lived at the Institute for Community Living's East House, a block from the intersection. The institute remembered her as a longtime community member: “Deborah was well known to our staff, and East House was her home.”

Sources describe the truck differently.

News 12 reported that authorities identified the driver as a 50-year-old man operating a 2019 Western Star tractor-trailer. The official record lists a 2019 Morning Star dump truck; early News 12 and 1010 WINS reports described an 18-wheeler.

DOT said it would review the location.

News 12 reported that a Department of Transportation spokesperson said the agency would review the crash location. A follow-up noted signs on the parkway reading “passenger cars only” and said DOT had not yet responded to a question about the tractor-trailer's presence.