Photos by William Klayer
See below for updates
An 18-year-old cyclist riding a pedal assist Citi Bike was reportedly struck and killed by an Amazon box truck earlier this afternoon on First Avenue at 17th Street.
First Avenue was closed to traffic at 14th Street around 12:40 p.m. today.
There isn't much information about the collision at the moment (we'll update when authorities release more substantial details).
From reporter Liam Quigley on Twitter, who was on the scene: "An incredibly upsetting crash this afternoon. A young person came up asking if their friend was dead and started crying. The Amazon driver looked not much older than them. He too was crying, holding his head in his hands."
Updated 6/17
NBC 4 reports that the cyclist lived nearby.
Another detail from NBC 4: While emergency responders were tending to the victim, someone rode off on the Citi Bike.
Streetsblog has more here, including that the truck, a new all-electric model, did not have any license plates, though there was an expired temp tag on the dashboard.
Updated 3 p.m.
Streetsblog has new information from the police about the collision here.
Officials identified the cyclist as Malcolm Livesey, who lived in Stuyvesant Town and attended School of the Future of East 22nd Street.
There is a makeshift memorial to Malcolm at the site of the collision...
As per Streetsblog New York
ReplyDelete@StreetsblogNYC:
"An 18-year-old on an electric Citi Bike was struck and killed by the driver of an Amazon truck that apparently had no license plates on it on Friday afternoon in Gramercy Park.
According to cops, the bike rider and the truck driver were heading up First Avenue at around 12:40 p.m. when the cyclist began to make a left turn onto E. 17th Street. That's when he was struck by the trucker — though a police spokesman said the preliminary investigation suggests that the truck was continuing north on First Avenue."
"Reporter Liam Quigley tweeted that the electric truck did not have plates, but had an expired temp tag inside the front windshield:"
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/06/16/teen-cyclist-killed-by-amazon-truck-driver-in-truck-with-no-plates
Very sad, and very predictable. My condolences to Malcolm’s friends and family. This was a new Amazon electric box truck, which makes no noise and make these a real hazard for pedestrians and cyclists alike. There has been a lot of talk about installing noise making devices on these trucks to warn pedestrians they are coming, but the ambient noise of Manhattan streets would require them to be very loud to be of use.
ReplyDeleteThe same goes for the CitiBike eBikes, which are quiet and allow riders to go way too fast and with little or no sound except for when they rattle while speeding over potholes. The eBike riders regularly pass me in the bike lane as they speed as fast as these bikes can go.
This is also the second fatal accident in the area in the past few weeks: a drunk driver plowed into two cyclists and two pedestrians on 3rd Ave and 21st St. killing one person. The delivery bike that was hit in that accident was wedged under the car, which was totaled.