Tuesday, November 20, 2012

[Updated] Report: Skateboarder dies after collision with truck at Union Square

A 24-year-old skateboarder died today after he swerved into the path of a truck at Union Square, according to a report via the Daily News.

Per the report, he was riding with traffic along Broadway when "he suddenly turned in front of the moving delivery truck" at East 17th Street.

BoweryBoogie has more details here, including a rather graphic photo.

Updated 3:26 p.m.

Gothamist has more details here.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's terrible. I just walked by a group of Skateboarders on the divide across from Beth Israel last weekend. They were all over the place, and I think one of them was close to 40.

Anonymous said...

R.I.P. baby

The most dangerous vehicle in this day and age in an overpopulated NYC is the skateboard, and skateboarders are fearless. Sad and angry. Union Square is extremely, extremely dangerous. Everyone be careful. You just can't wonder around so freely anymore. My partner almost got hit by a bicyclist while trying to squeeze through cars that were stopped in the crosswalk, in Soho tis past weekend.

Anonymous said...

traffic in that lane usually moves slow. stomach dropping thought, that perhaps he was run over not just hit.
awful.

Bobby L said...

eekk, that last photo is bad :(

Crazy Eddie said...

As an avid cyclist, this whole US north of 14th street area with its pedestrian mall, food trucks, etc., it is very dangerous place since nobody knows what the rules are and it should be avoided by vehicles, pedestrians, bike riders, boarders, whatever. 17th street between Park Ave and Broadway is particularly dangerous.

Anonymous said...

Skateboarding is fun, for all ages, and like any other sport, you have to just be smart. Sometimes, though, things are just out of your control. My thoughts are with the family of this young man. Peace out, bro.

Anonymous said...

So sad. Traffic isn't so fast there. I am wondering if he might have suddenly swerved in front of a truck with a tall cab. It's entirely possible you might not see someone who came out of nowhere and was close to the truck.

Anonymous said...

why people feel the need to bike and/or skateboard in NYC traffic when there are ample parks in which to do this sort of thing escapes me.

BagelGuy said...

@crazy Eddie. Everyone knows what the rules are. It's just that nobody wants to follow them. Then everybody gets mad at the other guy for not following the rules.

Kurt said...

why people feel the need to bike and/or skateboard in NYC traffic when there are ample parks in which to do this sort of thing escapes me.

You don't understand the concept of transportation?

Anonymous said...

Uhhh because it's how I get to work, both board and bike. If there's some long, connected park I haven't heard of that will get me uptown and through midtown traffic every day, let me know.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone else besides me find Gothamist to be really horribly horrible compared to how usually horrible they are?

The way they "cover" this stuff is insulting trash.

Anonymous said...

I gave up on gothamist, the servers that they are using are so slow.,. Or maybe they don't know how to make a web page .. But either way the wait to load images and pages from their site is so pathetic....

Glenn Belverio said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Poor guy! Just a young man having a good time and made a mistake. RIP in heaven.

Anonymous said...

Very sad. RIP.
Melanie

Anonymous said...

Was not a skateboard - was a longboard.

glamma said...

My condolences to the family. What a tragic loss. RIP

SKATER LOVE 4E

Anonymous said...

It was a terrible death