A 49-year-old man died on Wednesday on the corner of Central Avenue and Palmetto Street in Bushwick, after colliding with a truck while driving a scooter, according to the police.
The police said the fatal accident occurred at approximately 11:49 a.m., and a preliminary investigation determined the scooter operator was dragged several feet after colliding with the truck’s rear tire. The truck driver remained at the scene.
The man was transported to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the police.
The damaged scooter, leaning against a traffic light pole, sat across the street from a ghost bike memorializing an earlier hit-and-run that took the life of 13-year-old Anthony Delgado in 2007. The stretch of Palmetto Street has since become known as Anthony Aristedes Delgado Way.
“Central is really a bad corner,” said Queenie Folks, an eyewitness to the accident. “I’ve been living here forty years, and seen so many accidents, from Woodbine back here to Gates Avenue.”
Folks said that she was walking up Palmetto Street between Wilson Avenue and Central Avenue when she saw a truck turning left onto Palmetto Street. While she initially thought the truck had struck a car, Folks said it wasn’t until she reached Central Avenue and saw the man lying on the corner that she realized what happened.
Folks said her son was injured decades ago in a similar collision while he was operating a motorcycle a few blocks from their home on Palmetto Street when he was 16 years old, which resulted in the loss of his legs.
Last year an ABC 7 On Your Side Investigates found that e-scooter accidents are on the rise in the New York City area.
“They need to slow down when they’re driving these bikes, these scooters,” said Folks. “They act like they don’t have time for tomorrow, they want to do everything right now, and that’s what causes them to have incidents like this.”
The collision is being investigated by the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad (CIS), according to the police.
Update: In a statement given June 16th, police said the e-scooter operator was driving southbound in the Central Avenue bicycle lane when the box truck, driven by a 33-year-old male and also traveling southbound on Central Avenue, made a left turn at the green light, eastbound on Palmetto Street. The e-scooter driver then hit the side of the box truck and was thrown to the pavement and subsequently run over by the rear wheels of the truck, said police. The scooter operator’s identity remains unreleased as the family has yet to be notified, said police.
No charges have been filed, and an investigation is still underway, they added.
All images taken by Kyle Smith for Bushwick Daily.
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