Thanks to Aaron Naparstek, we have this personal report of what happened yesterday on Fifth Avenue. He wrote it soon after the incident. Since then, more information about the incident, the name of the victim, etc. has become available.

I
just got back from a horrific scene down on 5th Avenue and Warren
Street. A woman cyclist was killed at the intersection about an hour
ago. She was riding northbound on 5th towards Flatbush. Apparently, she
got pinned between a PC Richardson appliance truck parked curbside and
an Edy’s ice cream truck coming up on her left. A witness told me that
the ice cream truck on her left didn’t make enough room for her as she
passed by the parked truck. The cops are saying that the driver of the
PC Richardson truck opened his door, causing her to veer to the left.
She got jostled off her bike, fell under the moving truck — a very big
10-wheeler — and her head was crushed under the right rear wheels. She
died instantly.

The cops have not released her name. She was
wearing bike shoes and was riding what looked to be a rather high-end
looking bike. Another witness, a passenger in a U-Haul truck riding
directly behind the ice cream truck who was very shaken up, said that
she was not doored by the driver of the PC Richardson truck. The
witness also said that the light on 5th Ave was green when the incident
took place and all the vehicles were moving. The cops, however, are
saying that the cyclist "cut between" the two trucks. Typically, when
these things happen, the cops and the media, consciously or not, slant
towards blaming the cyclist.

Several years ago, the advocacy
group Right Of Way documented that aggressive passing is the driving
maneuver most responsible for killing cyclists in NYC. (Click here to see the report. Warning: It’s a PDF document.)

The
driver of the Edy’s ice cream truck, a young Hispanic guy, drove off
after running over the woman. He was chased and stopped about two
blocks down the road by onlookers. He told the guys who chased him down
that he had no idea he hit anyone.

I am somewhat ambivalent
about posting these photographs on the site. But I think it is
important to see this. At least three cyclists have been killed in New
York City since the end of April. Two weekends ago I myself was cut off
and knocked down by a cab about two blocks from the site of today’s
crash. My bike is still all bent up.

Dying like this seems to me
to be just an incredible, massive injustice, particularly because it
would take so little effort and money to create safer cycling routes in
New York City. And the benefits of making New York City more safely
bikeable extend so far beyond just cyclists themselves. So, I’m posting
these photos not to be ghoulish, but to let people see the injustice
that I witnessed this morning. It is one thing to read about it. But
viewing the scene I couldn’t help but think: This could easily be me,
my wife, or my friend. In fact, for all I know it is one of my friends.

Ride as safely as you can, folks.

Looking northbound on 5th Avenue towards Flatbush

NYPD detectives examining the truck that ran over the cyclist.

Police photograph the crime scene.