
Derek Berg spotted this posted along Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place around 3 p.m. ... and it was gone by 4 p.m.
Christopher Dixon, 26, was arrested and charged ... for murder after a fatal stabbing of Phibeon Smalls, 27, a fellow resident of an East Ninth Street supportive housing building for young adults with a history of homelessness or mental illness.
The charge of failure to yield suggests that police believe Joseph had the right of way and was pedaling with the light when Jackson allegedly ran him down.
Jackson ... faces a maximum of 30 days in jail — although such sentences are rare.
Police say that Jackson was driving the truck for Approved Oil Company of Brooklyn when he killed Joseph. Jackson is the third reported driver from Approved Oil to kill a pedestrian or cyclist in the last two years.
In an email, Approved Oil attorney J. Bruce Maffeo said, "There is no evidence that Ken Jackson was driving negligently or aware that he had hit the bicyclist who was dressed in dark clothes and traveling at night. As a result the police who investigated the incident declined to arrest him at the time and correctly saw the tragic incident as an accident—nothing more or less."
Maffeo added, "The charge against Ken involves an untested NYC statute that criminalizes any motor vehicle accident involving a fatality. While Ken and Approved Oil sympathize with the victim and his family, neither he nor the company acted negligently, much less criminally, in this case and intend to vigorously contest the charge."
Joseph Cutrufo, a spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives, countered, "This crash happened in midtown Manhattan, a block from Times Square, where there's no shortage of light. And last we checked, it's not a crime to wear dark clothes. It is, however, against the law to kill a person with an oil truck."