A 13-year-old boy riding on the back of a moped was killed in Flushing on Monday, June 29, after the moped hit an open car door and then slammed into a moving box truck, the New York Police Department said.
The crash happened on 162nd Street near 45th Avenue at about 12:35 p.m., according to the NYPD. The moped’s driver, a 13-year-old friend of the boy who died, was injured but is expected to recover, police said. The passenger was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens, where he died. His name has not been released.
The Daily News, which obtained video of the crash, reported that the teenage driver tried to swerve around a door that the driver of a parked vehicle had opened into the street. The NYPD said the boy swerved to avoid the door. The video, according to the Daily News, shows he was unable to avoid it: he hit the door, then veered the moped into the trailer of a six-wheel box truck that was heading south on 162nd Street, the same direction as the moped. Both teens fell under the trailer, and the truck’s wheels rolled over the moped.
“It was two kids on the motorcycle,” an eyewitness who gave his name as John told the Daily News. “The car opened the door. He tried to avoid it. He lost control, and he went underneath the truck. The truck was going, and they both went between the front and the rear wheels.”
“The kid on the back was killed,” John added. “It was terrible. My heart said, oh my god, help them.”
Police said the passenger was struck by the truck’s rear wheel. In the video, he can be seen lying unconscious in the street, where a bystander runs over and begins chest compressions, the Daily News reported. The driver, who appeared to vanish beneath the truck, crawled out from under the trailer once the vehicle stopped and hobbled off to check on his friend.
Neither the truck driver nor the driver of the parked vehicle was hurt, and both stayed at the scene, according to police. The truck driver declined to comment, the Daily News reported. No charges were immediately filed, and the NYPD said it is still investigating.
It was the second child killed in a moped crash in the city in the span of days, the Spanish-language outlet El Diario reported. Another 13-year-old died in a moped crash in Harlem on the night of June 18.
Both deaths land as the city continues to roll out lower speed limits under Sammy’s Law, which took effect on some New York streets in October 2024 and is named for a 12-year-old boy struck and killed by a driver near his Brooklyn home. In December 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Angelica’s Law, which allows felony charges against repeat drivers who keep operating vehicles after five or more traffic violations that resulted in license suspensions or revocations, El Diario reported.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily image
