COURIER L 18 IFE, APRIL 16-22, 2021
Man, 97, killed
after driver
mounts curb in
Brighton Beach
BY HAZEL SHAHGHOLI
A 97-year-old man
is dead after a driver
jumped the curb in
Brighton Beach on April
7, sending the victim careening
into a nearby
storefront.
Authorities say the
incident occurred at approximately
3:45 pm on
April 7 near 405 Brighton
Beach Ave.
At that time, police
say the victim, Volf Ferdman,
was standing on
the sidewalk with his
walker when the operator
of a Cadillac Escalade
attempted to pull
from a parked position
on the avenue. The
driver, 79, then mounted
the curb and drove onto
the sidewalk where Ferdman’s
walking device
was parked.
The victim was struck
by the front bumper and
forced into a storefront,
where he became pinned
between the business’
glass doors, authorities
said.
EMS and responding
offi cers from the 60th
Precinct arrived to fi nd
Ferdman with severe
bodily trauma. He was
transported to NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn
where he was pronounced
dead.
The Cadillac driver
was not injured in the
collision and the investigation
remains ongoing,
according to police.
BOARDWALK
leave, he said. “We encounter
very few authorized
on the boardwalk,
and when we do, we escort
them off and educate
them.”
In addition to its lax
vehicle ban, the boardwalk
also lacks a fulltime,
year-round repairman,
Focht said. Though
the Parks Department
assigns two carpenters
to the nearly three-milelong
landmark every
summer, the agency conducts
its repairs on an
adhoc basis in the offseason.
“Generally, we inspect
the boardwalk yearround,”
said the Parks
offi cial, who voiced his
support for Treyger’s vehicle
ban. “We obviously
ramp up our repairs for
the boardwalk right now
in the spring in advance
of the season.”
Treyger said he would
work with the Parks Department
and the city
to make sure the boardwalk
receives at least one
year-round carpenter.
“It’s concerning to
hear that we don’t really
have full-time yearround
staff assigned
to it. I understand that
there’s attention paid to
the season, but folks live
here beyond the season,
and it is a heavily visited
boardwalk beyond
the seasonal months,” he
said. “Southern Brooklyn
had no open streets
as part of the Open
Streets Program, so people
turned to the boardwalk
as their refuge.”
Though Treyger’s
bill to ban vehicles from
the promenade is not yet
slated for vote, the Parks
Department’s plan to install
bollards at all of the
walkway’s entrances in
order to prevent terrorist
attacks is well underway,
and the $3.2 million
metal structures are set
to be installed sometime
in 2022, Focht said.
Continued from page 14
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