In the early hours of 2019, a 26-year-old was struck and killed in Brooklyn in what was likely the first cycling-related traffic fatality of the new year.
Police found the man unconscious in the road near Third Avenue and 28th Street around 6 a.m. Tuesday, the NYPD said. He was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he pronounced dead.
Identified by police as Hugo Alexander Sinto Garcia of Greenwood Heights, the NYPD said its investigation so far showed that he was traveling northward on Third Avenue when his e-bike ran into the open door of a parked cab. The collision caused Garcia to fall into the street; he was then struck by a Nissan being driven northbound by a 53-year-old man, who remained on the scene with the driver of the cab, cops said.
On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city was on pace to see its fifth year of declining traffic-related fatalities — dropping by 34 percent since 2013, per a statement from the Mayor’s Office. Fatalities related to cyclists were particularly low: 10 in 2018, versus 2017’s 24.
The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is continuing to look into the incident.
