Driver fleeing police charged in the hit-and-run death of delivery worker on Houston Street

The DA's office has indicted the hit-and-run driver who killed delivery worker Borkot Ullah as he crossed Houston Street at Clinton/Avenue B this past July.

According to the DA's office and published reports, 23-year-old Bronx resident Kenrick Cowan has been charged with manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree, and leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death without reporting, among other charges, for fatally striking Ullah. According to Streetsblog, who first reported on this indictment, the top charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Authorities said that Cowan was arrested last month by the NYPD's Bronx Warrants Squad for an unrelated shooting in the Bronx and was later charged with killing Ullah, who was 24.

Around 10 p.m. on July 8, an unmarked police car pursued Cowan. Per the DA's statement:

NYPD officers attempted to pull Cowan over for speeding and committing other traffic violations as he drove his Subaru Outback eastbound on East Houston Street ... Cowan led the police officers on a high-speed chase, weaved through traffic, and drove through a red light at the corner of East Houston and Clinton Streets, where he struck Ullah — who was riding his bicycle north on Clinton Street — and then fled the scene.

As Streetsblog previously reported, a police chase preceded the collision, though the NYPD declined to comment on the case. 

Ullah is reportedly one of 13 delivery workers who have died this year in NYC — with at least 10 in crashes while on the job.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. said this in a statement from this past Thursday:

"Today we remember Borkot Ullah, a young immigrant and workers' rights advocate who worked tirelessly to support his family here in New York City and in Bangladesh. Food delivery workers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the City thanks to reckless drivers who tear through our streets. We are committed to ensuring accountability for drivers that kill or injure cyclists and pedestrians ..."

A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $30,000 to help Ullah's family both here and in Bangladesh with expenses. His body was returned to Bangladesh, where he was buried on July 15.

This fall, a ghost bike was installed outside 8-10 Avenue B in Ullah's memory.

A ghost bike for Borkot Ullah on Avenue B

A ghost bike was installed in recent days outside 8-10 Avenue B. 

While his name isn't on the sign via ghostbikes.org, sources confirm this is a tribute to Borkot Ullah, a delivery worker killed by a hit-and-run driver this past July...

According to published reports, Ulah, 24, was on an e-bike crossing East Houston — from Clinton to Avenue B — around 11 p.m on July 8.  A black Subaru Outback — driving at a high rate of speed and apparently being pursued by an unmarked police car — was traveling eastbound. The vehicle struck Ulah and did not stop. The driver was later seen heading northbound on the FDR, ABC 7 reported.

Ullah was a member of Desis Rising Up and Moving, an undocumented workers' rights group. 

A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $30,000 to help his family both here and in Bangladesh with expenses. His body was returned to Bangladesh, where he was buried on July 15.

To date, no one has been charged with Ulah's death. State Attorney General Letitia James's office was reviewing the case because of the police involvement in the collision, Streetsblog reported on July 12.

According to Transportation Alternatives, "there have now been at least 206 traffic deaths in 2021, including at least 16 cyclists killed. This year is on track to be the deadliest year since Mayor de Blasio took office."

H/T Salim

More on the Day of the Dead bike ride

I had a post Monday on the Day of the Dead bike ride in the East Village. The organizers sent me this wrap up of the events that took place Sunday:

Cyclists, zombified with white and black face paint and dressed in bright, festive colors, took downtown Manhattan for a two hour ride on Sunday, November 2. They rose the dead with loud cheers, "viva bicicletas!" (live on bicycles) and "celebramos los muertos!" (celebrate the dead), in addition to visiting sites of cyclists hit and killed by cars and holding mock funerals.

Village environmental group Time's Up! organized the Day of the Dead bike ride in order to promote safer streets and remember and celebrate the cyclists Brandie Bailey, Rasha Shamoon, Brad Will and their community.

A garbage truck hit Bailey on Houston St. at Ave. A in 2005. Cyclists stopped first at her white "ghost" bike memorial, in order to celebrate the lives of all people killed on this dangerous street. After a moving speech that ended with, "let's celebrate the dead and fight like hell for the living," cyclists cheered and danced to Mexican music performed by former Blood, Sweat and Tears trumpet player Lew Soloff.

Next cyclists rode to where Shamoon was struck by an SUV at Delancey and Bowery on August 11, 2008. They held a 'mock" funeral in the divider of the intersection. Then they theatrically "died" and were "buried" under the wheels of a parked taxi in the Allen Street bike lane, demonstrating the danger caused by motorists parked in the bike lanes.

The final celebration for the dead on the bike ride occurred at a community garden, where Will dedicated much of his activist effort when he wasn't promoting bike riding. Cyclists ended their ride at St. Marks Church, filled with renewed energy to continue their fight for safe streets for all present and future cyclists.

They asked Mayor Bloomberg to join them in the quest for safer streets for all the New Yorkers, who are often eager to get on their bikes, but discouraged by unprotected, un-enforced bike lanes. They called for the city to honor its commitment to making the roads bike-friendly and green.

There are more photos like the one above on the Time's Up! Flickr page.

The Day of the Dead Ride

Yesterday marked the Day of the Dead Ride in the East Village as the group celebrated cyclists -- both present and past. According to times-up.org, "We will bike and dance our way through the East Village, visiting ghost bikes, honoring the memory of those who have been killed, and demanding safe streets so that future riders can ride peacefully in a sustainable city." New York magazine reports there are 35 ghost bikes in the five boroughs.

Here, the group remembered Brandie Bailey, who was struck and killed in May 2005 by a private sanitation truck on East Houston Street near Essex Street. She was 21.