[Updated] Reader report: Car crashes into Blink Fitness on Avenue A; driver flees

Several EVG readers shared that a car crashed into Blink Fitness on Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street just before midnight last night. After smashing the window to the left of the front door, the driver backed off the sidewalk and sped off. 

The gym was closed at the time, and there weren't any reports of injuries.

We're told that several people filmed the incident. The make and model of the vehicle are unknown at the moment. 

One reader, who only saw the aftermath of the crash, assumes that the driver was making a U-turn and hit the accelerator rather than the brake, lurching onto the sidewalk and into the window.

We'll update if/when more information becomes available. 

Blink is open this morning, and as of 7, the front window has yet to be replaced. 

Updated 

EVG reader Creature noted that workers boarded up the window around 11 a.m.

Updated

An EVG reader shared this video filmed immediately after the collision... the driver appears to have gotten out of the vehicle and inspected the damage before driving away... the license plate is not visible in the video...

 

Updated

EVG reader Chris Rowland shared these photos from inside Blink this evening...

... and there's a memento on the emergency plywood — the car's hood ornament...

Reports: In a hit-and-run, man struck and killed on 10th and D by an MTA bus

Top image via Citizen 

An MTA bus reportedly struck and killed a man last night on 10th Street and Avenue D. 

According to media and police reports, the man — later identified as 45-year-old Shawn Gooding — was crossing 10th Street from the southwest to the northwest corner around 10:40 p.m. when he was hit by the MTA bus turning right with the green light onto Avenue D. 

Per NY1: "According to police, Gooding tripped and fell into the road near a marked crosswalk, and the rear of the bus struck him." 

First responders, who found Gooding in the roadway with trauma to his body, took him to Bellevue, where officials pronounced him dead. 

NY1 and other outlets reported that the bus driver did not remain on the scene ... "because he was likely not aware he struck somebody, according to police." Per amNew York, the 59-year-old driver "was shocked to learn of the incident." 

Both the M14D and the M8 pass the intersection where the collision occurred.

From 1010 WINS: 

The MTA directed 1010 WINS/WCBS 880's request for comment to the NYPD. "We don’t want to impede on their ongoing and active investigation," the MTA said. 

"Much of the information is still preliminary, so we want to make sure we respond accurately." 

 No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

Photo early this morning by William Klayer

Revel vehicle wipes out Frank's curbside dining structure after hours on 2nd Avenue

A Revel car demolished the curbside dining structure outside Frank on Second Avenue near Fifth Street during a collision that occurred late last night/early this morning. 

The restaurant was not open at the time, and the structure was empty. There weren't any reports of injuries. (Thanks to Stuart Zamsky for the first two photos.)

Police at the scene this morning did not have any further information about the collision and what led to it.

Derek Berg took this photo around 7:45... when the NYPD towed away the Revel, presumably an electric vehicle from the ride-hailing service...

Updated: A Revel spokesperson confirmed the details in this post, but declined to provide any further comment. 

Updated noon:

Photo by Steven...

Source: DA's office mulling charges against tow truck driver in the death of longtime East Village resident Merle Ratner

Photo by EVG

 Reporting by Stacie Joy 

Charges are pending against the tow truck driver who struck and killed a longtime East Village resident on Feb. 5 while crossing 10th Street at Avenue C. 

NYPD sources told us that the incident remains under investigation, stating that the DA's office "is still going back and forth on it if they want to prosecute or not. The NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad thinks they might make an arrest." 

When asked about the possible charges, the NYPD source stated, "That's what the ADA is going back and forth with. I don't think they are sure themselves, and that's probably why it's taking [so] long." 

According to police and media reports, Merle Ratner was crossing 10th Street at Avenue C with the light at 7 p.m. to visit a friend when she was struck and killed by the driver of the tow truck who was traveling south on Avenue C before turning left onto 10th Street. 

Police said Ratner, 67, died at the scene. 

According to police and media reports, the 59-year-old driver of the tow truck, owned by Timmy's Automotive in East Harlem, remained at the scene and was given a breathalyzer test. 

Meanwhile, the flatbed tow truck involved in the collision has been parked on Second Avenue near Sixth Street for the past week and a half. (Top photo.) Our police source was surprised to hear that the truck remained in this spot, located around the corner from the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Journalist Liam Quigley pointed out the truck's rear license in an X post on Feb. 8.

This is the tow truck in the crash that killed Merle Ratner earlier this week. The license plate is completely defaced — a common practice in the industry pic.twitter.com/15jL1hduD1

— Liam Quigley (@_elkue) February 9, 2024

According to the How's My Driving NYC account, the plate has 86 violations, including 18 school zone speed violations and six red light camera violations — with over $9,700 in fines.

Ratner grew up in the Bronx and lived in the East Village starting in the 1980s. She was a co-coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign. She also worked as a labor rights organizer at the International Commission for Labor Rights ... and served on the board at the Laundry Workers Center, which organizes low-wage immigrant laundry and food service workers. 

Here's more from Ratner in an EVG interview with James Maher in 2017: 

My family has a history — my grandmother, when she came from Odessa, was the first woman business agent at the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and my mother was a member of Local 1707 Day Care Workers. I have a picture in my house of my grandmother; it must have been in the 1920s, with a long skirt with a bustle, the very traditional thing that women wore, holding a picket sign with her friend that said, 'Don’t be a scab.'" 

Ngô Thanh Nhàn talked with The Village Sun about his wife of 40 years. 

"She loved life and was always thinking about ways to build a society that supports people, not profit," he said.

[Updated]: Woman killed by tow truck on 10th Street and Avenue C

Photo by Dave on 7th

Updated: Police identified the woman as longtime East Village resident Merle Ratner.

A tow truck struck and killed a 67-year-old woman carrying a bag of groceries and crossing 10th Street at Avenue C early this evening, according to police and media reports. 

The collision occurred around 7 p.m. on the east side of the intersection as the woman crossed 10th Street.

ABC 7 said that the truck driver from an automotive shop — making a left from the southbound lane of C — remained on the scene. 

The Collision Investigation Squad questioned the driver and conducted a field sobriety test. He has reportedly not been charged while the investigation continues.

Report: Police chase ends with Jeep crashing into 2nd Avenue sidewalk bridge, injuring cyclist

Photos by EVG reader Erin 

A police chase last evening ended up with the suspects crashing a Jeep into the sidewalk bridge on Second Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street, injuring a 26-year-old bicyclist in the process.

According to police and media reports (PIX 11 here), the situation began after 7 p.m. on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue when the NYPD attempted to pull over the vehicle that had stolen plates. 

However, the driver sped off, reportedly hitting several cars on 34th Street and Second Avenue, before heading south down Second Avenue at a high rate of speed. 

Before colliding with the sidewalk bridge in the East Village, the driver struck a parked car and the cyclist, who reportedly suffered non-life-threatening head, neck and leg injuries. 

The occupants of the vehicle were a 21-year-old and a 16-year-old male. No word on the charges against them.

[Updating] 19-year-old worker killed by father in construction accident on 1st Avenue and 7th Street

Photo by Daniel Carlson 

Updates below; headline also updated as more information became available. There's a GoFundMe here to help the family pay for funeral expenses.

Reports are coming in this morning shortly before 9 that a male pedestrian was struck and killed by a mobile hydraulic lift on First Avenue at Seventh Street. 

Police have the intersection closed off right now. 

[Photo by Daniel Efram]

We'll update you when more information becomes available.

Updated 10:30 a.m.

ABC-7 reports that the victim, a 19-year-old man, was a construction worker who was directing the equipment operator through the intersection.

Updated 1:30 p.m.

Police have confirmed that the driver of the mobile hydraulic lift is the father of the victim.

According to witnesses and published reports, the son "was attempting to guide his father onto a flatbed truck through the busy intersection," per ABC-7. The victim had apparently moved to stop traffic and was run over by the machinery. 

Updated 10:30 a.m.

The victim, Ommatt Cruz, lived in the West Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island, according to the Staten Island Advance.

[Updating] 18-year-old cyclist killed in collision on 1st Avenue at 17th Street

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).

The name of the cyclist has not yet been released. Media reports say that the driver stayed at the scene "and no crime was suspected." 

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.

Updated 6/18

There is a makeshift memorial to Malcolm at the site of the collision...

[Updated] Drunken driver arrested after crash on Houston and 1st Avenue; pedestrian dies

Photos via @Bentsen23 

Raife Milligan, the pedestrian struck by the drunken driver, has died from his injuries. He was 21. Milligan, a native of Jasper, Ind., was a junior studying BioChemistry at NYU. There's a GoFundMe to help his family pay for expenses.

----

Police are investigating a collision involving two cars and a pedestrian on Houston Street at First Avenue that reportedly sent three people to the hospital this morning just before 3.

NBC 4 reports this:

A man in his 20s was seriously hurt when a driver hit him as he crossed a Lower East Side street early Monday, authorities said. The man was crossing East Houston at First Avenue around 2:45 a.m. when cops say a driver, possibly behind the wheel of a Camaro, swerved in an effort to avoid him. The driver hit the pedestrian anyway, then careened into a Honda.

Police have the intersection blocked off this morning... the mangled Camaro remains at the scene in the westbound lanes...

An EVG reader emailed us the following: "The sound of the car speeding down Houston — rapidly upshifting through the gears — was so loud it woke me up." The reader then went to the intersection. "There were witnesses who were extremely upset — it was awful." 

NBC 4 reports that two people in the vehicles were taken to a hospital "for complaints of pain, but they weren't believed to have suffered serious injuries." 

There wasn't an update on the condition of the pedestrian, who EMTs transported to Bellevue.

Updated 11:30 a.m. 

The Post reports that the driver of the Camaro was suspected of being drunk.

The paper lists the victim in critical condition.

Updated 6:30 p.m.

The Daily News reports that the driver, Michael de Guzman, 49, of Astoria, was taken into custody by police and charged with drunken driving.

Although the license plate is mangled in these photos, there was a visible shot in another media outlet. As a reader noted, the driver has received four camera-issued speeding tickets since December.

The crash involving a reckless driver occurred hours before Mayor Adams unveiled a new safety campaign titled "Speeding Ruins Lives, Slow Down."

Headline updated

Sunday's parting shot

A head-on collison this evening reported around 6:15 on Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street... no reports of injuries... and no idea how this happened... thanks to the longtime reader for the photo...

A collision on the FDR at 10th Street

EVG reader Michael Kramer shared these photos from this afternoon... where he came across the aftermath of a collision on the southbound FDR at 10th Street that caused this vehicle to overturn ...

The Citizen app reported that two people in the vehicle were transorted to the hospital... no word on their condition...

An SUV collision on 1st Avenue at 5th Street

If you traveled on First Avenue at Fifth Street today, then you likely noticed the Ford SUV on the sidewalk, lodged amid the Village View sidewalk bridge. 

EVG reader Chris Ryan shared the top photo from around 8:30 a.m. 

Here are more photos from EVG regular Salim showing the damage to the sidewalk bridge and vehicle on the east side of the avenue...

Still piecing together what happened. A reader shared the photos below from just after 2 a.m. ...

The reader believes the minivan slammed into the Ford, which was parked at the time... and the collision propelled it onto the sidewalk...

And what was the driver doing going in that direction on the northbound First Avenue? Was the driver heading east on Sixth Street and made a right and drove the wrong way on First Avenue? A less likely explanation is the driver turned the wrong way off Second Avenue and headed across Fifth Street — and right by the 9th Precinct — before coming to an end here. 

Will update if any more info becomes available.

Also, the M15 stop here is temporarily not in service...

Reader reports: Car making U-turn strikes woman on Avenue B sidewalk

[Photo by Christopher J. Ryan]

There are a lot more questions than answers at the moment late this afternoon after a car struck a 72-year-old woman on the sidewalk on Avenue B at 10th Street.

It's not immediately clear how the car ended up on the sidewalk, striking the woman in the process.

Some more photos from Avenue B and 10th St where a person on the sidewalk was hit by a car. No idea why it was on the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/PRURgRun5S

— Liam Quigley (@_elkue) August 12, 2019

Witnesses report that the woman was pinned under the car. Emergency responders took her away with reported head injuries.


[Photo by Christopher J. Ryan]

We'll update this post when more information becomes available.

Updated 5:51 p.m.

ABC 7 reports that the driver was making a U-turn.

Officials later said the driver was actually attempting to make a U-turn, and when he put the car in reverse, it jumped the curb and struck the pedestrian.

Police say the woman was taken to Bellevue hospital in serious condition, but was expected to survive.

No word about charges against the driver.

Updated 6:22 pm.

Witnesses said that the woman was one of the longtime shaved ice vendors on Avenue B...


[Photo by @djmcboarder]

Updated 8 p.m.

Yes, as several readers noted, this corridor is one that local elected officials are urging the city to make safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Updated 8:15 p.m.

An aerial view early this evening via a Citizen user...

A multi-vehicle collision with injuries reported on 2nd Avenue at 14th Street

Photojournalist Jefferson Siegel shared this photo from this evening around 7 at Second Avenue and 14th Street ... where there was a multiple-car collision. A cyclist was also struck.

A Lyft driver appeared to be unconscious and was trapped in his car for several minutes until firefighters were able to free him. He was removed to the hospital. The bicyclist appeared shaken. The condition of the other two drivers was unknown. Police stopped southbound traffic on 2nd Avenue at 15th Street.

The above photo shows firefighters working to remove the Lyft driver after placing a neck brace on him.

No word at the moment about the cause of the collision.

Reader report: SUV takes out part of the sidewalk bridge on Houston and Avenue B

EVG regular Salim shares this photo from earlier this morning ... showing the aftermath of an SUV colliding with the sidewalk bridge on the northwest corner of Houston and Avenue B.

No word on the cause of the collision or injuries. (We've heard from readers through the years noting how dangerous the East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection is.)

The NYPD remains on the corner ... and the area is cordoned off... likely awaiting a new sidewalk bridge for outside the long-empty 6 Avenue B...



Previously on EVV Grieve:
Is something finally happening to the long-vacant, mysterious 6 Avenue B?

Resident: July 4 collision highlights dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

Report: Collision on 2nd Avenue at 9th Street leaves 69-year-old man in critical condition

Driver hits 69-year-old man who was crossing East Village street, leaving him in critical condition https://t.co/nDgOneJqow pic.twitter.com/vzhxSpynfz

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 21, 2018

There were several reader reports last night about a car striking a pedestrian last evening on Second Avenue and Ninth Street.

According to the Daily News, a 69-year-old man was crossing west on Second Avenue when a Honda Accord making a left turn from Ninth Street struck the pedestrian around 8 p.m.

Per the News:

A bicyclist riding down Second Ave. said the driver had the green light but was turning too fast to stop for the victim who was in the crosswalk.

The victim was taken to Bellevue and is reportedly in critical condition.

No charges were immediately filed against the 35-year-old motorist, according to the News.

Report: Uber driver collides with 3 parked cars on Avenue D

Just after 10 this morning, an Uber driver reportedly sideswiped several parked cars on Avenue D near Fifth Street before flipping his vehicle.

EVG reader Sylvia G. shared these photos...



According to the Daily News, after hitting two unoccupied parked cars, the driver rear-ended a vehicle that was double-parked with someone inside. The Uber driver's black Toyota sedan overturned from the force of the impact, trapping him inside.

EMTs took the Uber driver and the victim in the double-parked vehicle to Mount Sinai Beth Israel for neck and back injuries, per the News. No word on what caused the collision. No charges have been filed yet against the Uber driver.

Report: Driver charged in collision that killed cyclist Kelly Hurley on 1st Avenue & 9th Street

[Photo from April 11]

The driver of the box truck who fatally struck a cyclist in April on Ninth Street at First Avenue has been arrested, according to published reports.

Per DNAInfo, who first had the story:

Kyung H. Hyun, 59, was arrested at 1:57 p.m. and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian — the city's "right of way" law under the Mayor's Vision Zero initiative — failure to exercise due care, and making an improper left turn, according to authorities.

On April 5, Kelly Hurley was riding in the northbound bike lane on First Avenue around 7:20 a.m. She had the green light at Ninth Street when Hyun reportedly made a left turn from First Avenue's right-most lane.

Previous reports stated that he had come to a complete stop on First Avenue before making the abrupt left turn onto Ninth Street across four lanes of traffic. He struck Hurley, who had the right of way. She died the following week from her injuries. Hurley was 31.

Police gave Hyun a desk appearance ticket. He’s due in Manhattan criminal court on Aug. 29, the Daily News reported.

CB3's Transportation Committee recently recommended that the Department of Transportation consider more carefully separating bike and car traffic in the so-called "mixing zones" found at intersections like Ninth Street and First Avenue. Read more about that here.

As DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs reported in April:

Captain Vincent Greany, the Ninth Precinct's commanding officer, has condemned the zones as problematic, noting at a community council meeting after Hurley's death that it is "almost impossible" to see a cyclist while merging into their lane "unless you physically turn your head and look back."

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Kelly Hurley

Reactions to Kelly Hurley's death

NYPD offers explanation into Kelly Hurley's death: 'she slipped'

[Updated] NYPD offers explanation into Kelly Hurley's death: 'she slipped'

In an interview with Christopher Robbins at The Village Voice yesterday, an NYPD detective provided some updates on Kelly Hurley, the 31-year-old Lower East Side resident who died from her injuries following a collision with a box truck on First Avenue at Ninth Street on April 5.

Among the revelations:

• The NYPD to date has issued a single summons to the driver — for not having a crossover mirror.

• The spokesperson, Detective Ahmed Nasser, said that the truck "made a left turn from the rightmost lane" onto East Ninth Street.

• The detective said that Hurley "slipped off her bike" at the intersection and was struck by the truck.

Robbins asked Nasser if the truck driver, who remained at the scene of the collision, "should have been making sure that he wasn’t turning into a cyclist or a pedestrian in the intersection."

Nasser's response:

“Well, I suppose you can say one or the other, but it seems like he probably didn’t see her, and she was going up north, he was making a left, he’s actually already into the intersection, he was already making the turn. She probably didn’t stop in time, and she slipped and fell under. . . . He’s already in, she tried to stop, she came off the bike, she slipped under the truck."

Streetsblog yesterday said that this was another case of the NYPD blaming the victim.

Hurley is gone. She can’t recount her version of what happened on the morning of April 5, so we’re left with what the police tell us. And as is often the case when a motorist kills a pedestrian or cyclist, the NYPD account is a bizarre mess that exonerates the driver.

Detective Ahmed Nasser told the Voice that the motorist was turning left from the right-most lane, which, if true, is a moving violation. Turning motorists are also required to yield to cyclists at the intersection where Hurley was fatally injured, but Nasser offered up a series of conjectures to reach an exculpatory conclusion.

In an interview with DNAinfo, Nasser confirmed that the truck driver had come to a complete stop on First Avenue before making the abrupt left turn onto Ninth Street across four lanes of traffic.

He also said that the investigation is ongoing "and the truck driver may still be arrested."

Cycling and pedestrian advocates have spoken out against this intersection design. The crash happened in one of the so-called "mixing zones" where drivers are allowed to make careful left turns from First Avenue as cyclists are going straight through intersections with the green light.




[Photo from last Thursday]

Updated 10 p.m.

Patch attended tonight's Community Council Meeting at the 9th Precinct, where Lt. Brian Reynolds, commanding officer of the NYPD's collision investigation squad, addressed the collision.

"My own opinion is, I'm going to be recommending the driver be held accountable. I can't explain to you exactly what it's going to be right now, but after what I've seen, he's going to be held accountable, at least on my end, from my office."

And...

Reynolds declined to specify what exact recommendations he would make to the Manhattan district attorney's office, and did not confirm that the driver would necessarily be charged. Any criminal charges filed will ultimately be determined by prosecutors.