Driver hits Co-op City bench, killing Ramonita Colon, 72
A 55-year-old driver mounted a sidewalk at Bartow Avenue and Co-op City Boulevard on April 21, 2026, and hit a bench, fatally injuring Ramonita Colon, 72.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
A 55-year-old man driving a Mazda CX5 mounted a sidewalk at Bartow Avenue and Co-op City Boulevard on April 21, 2026, and hit a bench where Ramonita Colon and another person were seated. Colon, a 72-year-old grandmother from Wakefield, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police described an apparent medical episode; the city crash record lists lost consciousness as a contributing factor. Police said the driver and the other person on the bench were taken to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition. Published accounts disagree about the other person's age and which street the driver was traveling on.
The crash
At about 1:31 p.m. on April 21, 2026, a driver mounted the sidewalk and hit a bench at Bartow Avenue and Co-op City Boulevard, police said. Ramonita Colon, 72, was pinned beneath the Mazda and pronounced dead at the scene.
A bench beside the intersection
The bench stood on the northeast corner of Bartow Avenue and Co-op City Boulevard in Co-op City, near a bus stop. News 12 reported that people were sitting there waiting for a bus when the driver came onto the sidewalk.
Colon and the other person on the bench
Colon was a grandmother who lived in Wakefield, according to local reporting. Councilmember Kevin Riley expressed condolences after her death.
Police said another person seated on the bench was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition. Reports disagree about his age: the Daily News gave it as 32, NBC New York and News 12 as 36, and Gothamist and Norwood News as 38.
The driver's approach
Police identified the driver as a 55-year-old man in a 2018 Mazda CX5. The city vehicle record and police accounts in the Daily News and Norwood News place his northbound approach on Co-op City Boulevard. NBC New York instead reported that he was driving north on Bartow Avenue.
An apparent medical episode
Police said the driver appeared to have a medical episode before he lost control. The city crash record lists lost consciousness as a contributing factor, though an NYPD spokesperson told the Daily News that police could not specify what caused the loss of control.
Hospital care and investigation
Police said the driver and the other person on the bench were taken to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition. The city crash record counts three people injured in all; the police account identifies those two people as hospital patients.
Police said they had made no arrests and that the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad was investigating. Hillary Morrison told News 12 that she often waited at the same bus stop and was shaken by what happened.