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Aug. 2-8, 2019 Including The Brooklyn Paper
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ANOTHER CYCLIST KILLED
Biker is 18th to be killed on city streets — and 13th in Brooklyn
SUNSET PARK
COMMUNITY
MOURNS
AFTER FATAL
CRASH
SEE STORY ON PAGE 6
era when transportation
decisions were made with
the sole intention of moving
as many vehicles as possible
through our neighborhoods,
without regard to the people
living and working in those
neighborhoods,” said Ellen
McDermott the deputy director
of Transportation Alternatives.
The fi rst cyclist killed in
2019 was struck only eight
blocks from Monday’s incident,
McDermott added.
Local politicians expressed
their sadness after Monday’s
tragedy.
“This crisis is real and
mounting,” Councilman Carlos
Menchaca (D-Sunset Park)
said on Twitter .
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A cyclist swerved out of the way of a parked van’s opening door (left) on Third Avenue, driving into the path of
an oncoming tractor trailer. Photo by Caroline Ourso
bike lane on Fourth Avenue
in Sunset Park. Some cycling
advocates think it’s time to
make Third Avenue more
bike-friendly, too.
“Third Avenue, which has
eight lanes for cars and zero
for bikes, is a product of a bygone
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city will install 80 miles of
protected bike paths, police
will issue more tickets to vehicles
parked in bike lanes, and
transit offi cials will redesign
50 intersections.
The mayor’s plan would
create a two-way protected
2020
BY ROSE ADAMS
A truck driver struck and
killed a 30-year-old cyclist in
Sunset Park on Monday.
The victim, identifi ed as
Em Samolewicz, was traveling
north along Third Avenue
near 36th Street when
she swerved into the path of a
massive 18-wheel Freightliner
truck traveling behind her to
avoid a door of a parked van at
9 a.m., cops said.
Emergency responders
rushed the victim to NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn where
she was pronounced dead, according
to police.
The 37-year-old driver remained
on the scene, and the
investigation remains ongoing,
authorities say.
Police set up a crime scene
surrounding the fallen bike,
which lay on Third Avenue
near a pool of vomit. The
white van that forced the cyclist
into the trucker’s path remained
barricaded behind police
caution tape, according to
witnesses.
The victim’s death marks
New York City’s 18th cyclist
fatality in 2019, the 13th in
Brooklyn, and the fi rst fatality
since Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
an expansion of the
city’s bike lane network last
Thursday in response to the
mounting bike deaths.
“The fact that this all happened
in such a small amount
of time — it’s a crisis and an
emergency,” de Blasio said at
Thursday’s presser.
Under the bike plan, the
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