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Jan. 10-Jan. 16, 2020
LEFRAK CITY MOURNS
Community calls for safer streets after sanitation truck fatally strikes 10-year-old boy
BY MAX PARROTT
Councilman Francisco
Moya and the LeFrak City
Tenants Association held
a vigil on Tuesday evening
for the 10-year-old boy who
was fatally struck by a New
York City Department of
Sanitation truck outside
the LeFrak City apartments
in Corona earlier that
morning.
Prayer candle in hand at
the intersection where the
tragic crash occurred, Moya
linked it to an “epidemic” of
pedestrian fatalities both in
Corona and across the city.
He urged the Department
of Transportation to take action
along the stretch of 57th
Avenue with street calming
measures and a traffic study.
“I’ve had meetings and
phone calls today with the
Department of Transportation
looking for different
ways to create street calming
and also implement different
kinds of measures that would
protect the residents who will
be crossing the street here,”
said Moya.
Moya said that he requested
more crossing
guards, better street lighting
and changes to the traffic
signaling.
From left: Councilman Francisco Moya and LeFrak City Tenant Association President Michelle
Dunston Photo: Dean Moses/QNS
Without the final results of
the then-ongoing NYPD investigation
of the accident, Moya
declined to say whether these
measures could have saved
the 10 year-old boy and his
mother, who was in critical
condition at Elmhurst Hospital
at the time of the vigil.
Moya added that he has
asked the DOT to conduct
a study on how pedestrians
can be safer on the thoroughfare
on 57th Avenue and on
Junction Boulevard.
Michelle Dunston, LeFrak
City Tenants Association
president, said that the organization
had been working
with DOT to address pedestrian
safety prior to the accident,
and that the agency
would be coming to their next
meeting.
Dunston, also the crossing
guard supervisor for the
110th Precinct, said that there
were no crossing guards stationed
at the location of the
accident.
Moya said that he had put
in a request months ago to get
more crossing guards along
the stretch.
Later that night, an NYPD
spokesperson told QNS that
the Highway District’s Collision
Investigation Squad
determined the accident occurred
after the sanitation
truck made an eastbound
right turn onto 57th Avenue,
striking the two pedestrians
who emerged from the passenger
side of the vehicle and
subsequently running them
over with the passenger-side
front tire.
Moya said that the vigil
was organized to show support
during the family’s time
in need. No members of the
family were present.
A DOT spokesperson said
that the agency will visit the
crash site along with NYPD
and will continue to evaluate
the location for potential further
safety improvements, as
is standard practice after any
traffic fatality.
Reach reporter Max Parrott
by e-mail at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260-2507.
Vol. 8, No. 2 40 total pages
/QNS.COM
/schnepsmedia.com
