BY KEVIN DUGGAN &
JESSICA PARKS
Brooklyn has seen a rash
of fatal hit-and-runs in recent
weeks, shocking locals and provoking
anger from street-safety
activists who have renewed
their fervent calls for traffi c
calming measures.
The recent run on deadly
traffi c-related crimes began on
Feb. 15 in Bay Ridge, when the
driver of a light-colored Mercedes
Benz sedan smashed into
72-year-old Kamel Mahmoud
while the pedestrian was crossing
Bay Ridge Parkway in the
crosswalk at a green light near
Sixth Avenue.
Paramedics arrived at the
scene to fi nd Mahmoud lying in
the roadway and rushed him to
NYU Langone Hospital in Sunset
Park, where doctors treated
him for severe head trauma —
but he ultimately succumbed to
his injuries on Feb. 20.
The motorist behind the
wheel fl ed the location before
police arrived, and has yet to be
apprehended — prompting outrage
STAY
INFORMED!
COURIER L 18 IFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021
from the area’s local councilmember.
“I am devastated by the loss
of yet another one of my constituents
to traffi c violence,” Justin
Brannan. “Kamel Mahmoud
deserved better than to die at
the hands of a coward who was
so indifferent to human life that
he fl ed the scene. I have spoken
with the NYPD and we will do
everything we can to catch this
driver.”
On Feb. 24, two separate
drivers fatally struck pedestrians
before leaving the scene
within a 10 hour stretch.
First, 6-year-old Shimon
Fried was on his way to school
near S. Fifth Street in Williamsburg,
when the driver of
a yellow school bus struck the
young child, dragging him for
several feet, before driving off.
Minutes after the incident,
a Metropolitan Transportation
Authority bus driver found
the deceased boy on the street
and alerted the authorities —
prompting cops to pick up the
driver a few blocks away and
take him to the 90th Precinct
station house, but they have not
made any arrests.
At 6:40 pm on that same day,
a driver fatally struck 31-yearold
Imorne Horton before leaving
the scene at the border of
Carroll Gardens and Red Hook.
Paramedics rushed to the scene
and brought the bloodied victim
to Methodist Hospital, where
doctors pronounced him dead.
A subsequent investigation
showed that the car hit the pedestrian
while he was in the
right center lane of the four-lane
Hamilton Avenue beneath the
elevated Gowanus Expressway
at Court Street. Police could not
confi rm whether he was outside
of the crossing stripes when he
was struck.
Police have not made any arrests,
and the investigation remains
ongoing, according to a
Police Department rep.
On the same day as those
two hit-and-runs, the City
Council was holding a hearing
about a proposed bill to transfer
oversight of crash investigations
from NYPD to DOT, after
cops made arrests in less than 1
percent of those cases throughout
2020.
In response to the spate of
fatal crashes, and the NYPD’s
lackluster record of investigating
crashes, activist group
Transportation Alternatives
blasted the “inaction” of elected
offi cials to protect pedestrians
and bicyclists from treacherous
stretches of roadway.
“Every New Yorker lost to
traffi c violence is a tragedy.
And, the growing number of
hit-and-runs suggests that our
mayor is losing control over his
streets to reckless drivers,” said
the group’s head, Danny Harris.
“Unless Mayor de Blasio
takes immediate action to save
lives and save his Vision Zero
legacy, more people, including
children, will die.”
‘Our mayor is losing
control over his streets’
String of fatal hit-and-runs prompt shock, anger
A driver hit and killed a boy on S. Fifth Street in Williamsburg on Feb. 24.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
PAID DEATH NOTICES
To place an announcement in
Death Notice, In Memoriam,
Sympathy or
Cards of Thanks
Please Call Celeste 718-260-2554
or e-mail
calamin@schnepsmedia.com
Get daily updates
on all the news in your
neighborhood by signing up
for our daily e-mails at
BrooklynPaper.com/updates
link
/updates
link