A 25-year-old man on an electric bike died of head trauma after colliding with a pedestrian on the Willis Avenue Bridge bike path early Saturday, police said.
The pedestrian, described as a 46-year-old man, was taken to Harlem Hospital with a shoulder injury and listed in stable condition, police said.
The collision happened as the driver, who was not wearing a helmet, headed northbound on the bridge’s bike path and struck the pedestrian around 1:16 a.m. Saturday. The victim’s identity has not been released.
Another man died after he drove his motorcycle into a police cruiser pulled over on the side of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn early Saturday, police said.
Around 1 a.m. Saturday, the 41-year-old man was driving a 2014 BMW motorcycle heading westbound on the Belt Parkway between Cross Bay Boulevard and Erskine Street in the left lane of the parkway when he struck the rear of a marked NYPD Highway Unit car stopped in the same lane at “an apparent high rate of speed,” police said.
“Upon impact, the motorcyclist became ejected from the motorcycle, and came to a rest on the roadway,” the police said in a statement. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
NYPD said the highway unit car had its emergency lights on and the officer was responding to a disabled vehicle at the scene. The motorcyclist hit the vehicle with such force, the motorcycle ended up on the NYPD car's trunk, according to the New York Post.
The officer, who was sitting inside his vehicle at the time of the collision, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens “in stable condition with neck and back pain,” NYPD said.
The names of the motorcyclist and the highway unit officer were not yet released by police Saturday.
(Update: Police have identified the motorcyclist as Matthew Hester, 41, of Hempstead on Long Island.)
On Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo urged motorists to stay sober and drive carefully during the Labor Day weekend. He cited a spike in motorcycle fatalities as reported by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee that released preliminary data showing as of August 15th, deaths from motorcycle crashes are up more than 17% compared to the same period in 2019.
"Danger does not take a holiday and with increased traffic on the road this Labor Day weekend, we all have a responsibility to exercise good judgment and caution," Cuomo said, announcing a Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over impaired driving enforcement crackdown. "New York State will continue to crack down on dangerous driving behavior because the safety of all drivers and passengers will always be a top priority for us."
“The motorcycle riding season is winding down and with nice weather predicted for this long holiday weekend, we expect more traffic and more riders on the roads, so I am urging everyone to be responsible, pay attention, and slow down,” said Mark J.F. Schroeder, DMV Commissioner and Chair of the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee, in a release. “We all play a part in keeping one another safe on our roads and it is up to every driver and rider to stop this alarming trend in motorcycle fatalities from continuing."
