Ray Deter, owner of East Village bar D.B.A., died on Sunday night as a result of injuries sustained after being hit by a car at the intersection of Canal Street and West Broadway a week ago. According to the city medical examiner's office, Deter died of blunt impact head trauma, and his family noted on the bar's Facebook page that Deter would be taken off life support and wouldn't make it through the weekend. He was 53-years-old.
No charges have been filed against the driver of the Jaguar that hit Deter, 24-year-old Anthony Guan, although the police found marijuana in the car after the accident. D.B.A.'s Facebook wall has an outpouring of support for Deter's family and memories of the "father, friend, and proprietor of the good stuff." As DNAinfo notes, one commenter writes that at Pulp's concert on Sunday evening at Hyde Park in London, lead singer Jarvis Cocker, who was friendly with Deter, asked "100,000 people to raise their drink for Ray. It was a touching moment on a magical evening." Details of a memorial service for Deter are forthcoming on the bar's Facebook page.
This is the second cyclist fatality in a week, following the death of Marilyn Dershowitz on Saturday after she was struck by a 7-ton mail truck. Dershowitz was wearing a helmet, while Deter, who had said that his head was too big to wear one, was not.
