A woman knocked off her bike and killed Monday by a hit-and-run driver in Manhattan was a cycling enthusiast who had just moved to the city, officials said.
The 20-year-old victim was heading uptown along Sixth Avenue when a box truck moving in the same direction slammed into her in front of a Citibank at W. 24th St. at about 9:25 a.m., officials said.
She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with severe head trauma and died there.
The victim’s name was being withheld pending family notification.
The truck kept going, but its driver said he did not realize what had happened. He returned to the scene, where he was taken into custody in handcuffs. He was later issued five citations and released.
“We didn’t know we hit someone,” the driver, Antonio Garcia, of New Jersey, told Streetsblog NYC. “We went back after people started yelling at us.”.
Garcia’s son, Antonio, said he had not spoken with his father about the accident.
“I feel so bad for the girl,” the son said. “It’s truly sad but there’s no way to reach him.”
The victim was described as a cycling enthusiast who was on a local racing team, and had recently begun working as a bike messenger after moving to the city from Virginia.
An employee for Samurai Messenger Service confirmed that the cyclist had “just started” there, but declined further comment.
Other bike messengers and friends of the victim gathered near the crash scene and confronted the driver who was being interviewed by police down the block.
The truck is registered to A&E Stores of Teterboro, N.J. It has been slapped with 83 summonses since 2015 including two speeding violations, Streetsblog NYC reported.
“These are real people, and cars need to respect that,” said Doris Nowillo Suda, who came upon the aftermath of Monday’s crash. “I pray my son gets home safely everyday because of this.”
The cyclist was the 11th bike rider to die in a crash with a vehicle so far this year, compared to 10 cyclists in all of 2018, according to city officials.
“This latest preventable tragedy is further evidence that Mayor de Blasio is failing to protect the people of New York City from even the most basic dangers,” advocacy group Transportation Alternatives said in a statement. “His absence in presenting real solutions to this crisis is palpable with devastating results.”
But a spokesman for the mayor, Seth Stein, said the city is working to make streets safer for cyclists.
“We grieve at any loss of life on our streets, and our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends,” Stein said. “While cycling continues to explode in popularity, we will continue our work to make our bike lane network safer for everyone.”
With Clayton Guse and Anna Sanders
