A 76-year-old man was killed on Thursday after being struck by a speeding driver while crossing a street in Washington Heights, police said.
Julio Plaza, of Washington Heights, was crossing Broadway at West 161st Street at about 6:50 p.m. Thursday when a 27-year-old man driving a Dodge Charger at a high rate of speed plowed into the senior citizen while driving southbound.
Police responded to a 911 call and found Plaza unconscious and unresponsive on the roadway, with traumatic injuries. He was transported to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver, who has not been identified, remained on the scene and has not been charged with a crime.
Plaza’s death was followed by that of another senior on city streets on Saturday—although this time the victim was a motorist. Nolasca Vargas, 69, died in the South Bronx after blowing a stop sign in her Jeep and colliding with an MTA bus, police said. The bus was not carrying passengers at the time, and the driver was not injured.
Traffic collisions have claimed the lives of 194 New Yorkers so far this year, according to the NYPD.
Older New Yorkers are particularly vulnerable to death or serious injury in crashes. Last year, the Department of Transportation said in a report that seniors make up less than 15% of the city’s population, but more than 45% of pedestrian deaths.
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