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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JANUARY 5, 2020
DRIVING CHANGE
Bill prompted by deadly Slope crash becomes law
BY BEN VERDE
A new state law prompted by a deadly
2018 crash in Park Slope has become law
after being signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo,
legislators announced Thursday.
The rule will allow the state to suspend
the licenses of drivers who have lost consciousness
behind the wheel until they receive
medical clearance from a doctor that
they are fi t to drive.
“This legislation will ensure drivers
who are medically unfi t to drive will not
be on our roads,” said Assemblyman Robert
Carroll (D–Park Slope) who introduced
the bill.
The law comes after 44-year-old Staten
Island driver Dorothy Bruns plunged
through a red light at Ninth Street and
Fifth Avenue, slaying two children and
injuring three others, including Tonyaward
winning actress Ruthie Ann
Miles, who was pregnant at the time, and
later miscarried as a result of her injuries.
Prosecutors alleged that Bruns suffered
a seizure at the time of the crash, and that
her doctor had warned her not to drive as a
result of several medical conditions, including
multiple sclerosis.
Had Carroll’s law been in place back in
2018, Burns may have had her license suspended
before the fatal Park Slope crash,
due to a previous medical episode she suffered
behind the wheel, which caused her to
drive into a parked car six weeks before the
Ninth street crash.
“With traffi c deaths on the rise again,
we have to do everything we can to stop the
heartbreak and horror of traffi c violence,”
said Senator Andrew Gounardes (D–Bay
Ridge), who sponsored the bill in the senate.
Specifi cally, the new rule will require
the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles
commissioner to revoke a person’s license
if they receive a report from the police indicating
that the driver suffered a medical
episode behind the wheel. Receiving
a report will only cause an inquiry to be
opened, they will be allowed to drive until
the DMV fi nds conclusive evidence and
closes their inquiry. Drivers will have the
chance to request a hearing but will be
barred from driving until the ruling is
overturned.
The bill is a small victory for safe streets
advocates that came on the same day as a
crushing blowback when Cuomo vetoed
the hotly anticipated e-bikes bill that would
have legalized electric bikes and scooters
in parts of New York City. The governor derided
the bill as “fatally fl awed” for leaving
out safety measures he had included in the
2019 budget.
A makeshift memorial to the children run down by Dorothy Bruns in Park Slope in 2018, whose history
of blacking out behind the wheel spawned new laws to protect pedestrians from unhealthy drivers.
Photo by Natallie Rocha
Man fatally struck by train in Flatbush
Investigators go over the scene at the Newkirck Plaza subway station
where a man was killed by a passing train. Photos by Todd Maisel
BY TODD MAISEL
A Manhattan-bound Q train fatally struck a
man at the Newkirk Plaza station in Flatbush the
day after Christmas, according to police.
First responders rushed to the station shortly
after 7 am and pronounced the victim — who was
in his 30s — dead on the scene, cops said.
Manhattan-bound local train service was
suspended for more than two hours — and express
service continued on the opposite track, but
skipped the Newkirk Avenue stop as police investigated
the incident.
Authorities do not suspect that foul play was
involved in the incident, and believe the man was
already on the tracks when the train pulled into
the station — leading them to suspect he may have
committed suicide, according to authorities.
Shocked strap hangers looked on as police and
transit offi cials investigated the scene.
“Why would someone do this at this joyous
time of the year? So sad,” “I just can’t believe it,”
said one woman waiting for her train to Brighton
Beach.
Police cordon off a platform at the Newkirk Plaza subway station
after a train struck a man on Dec. 26.