A 60-year-old woman was killed Monday morning after two people riding on the same e-bike slammed into her along a popular bicycle route near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, police said.
The NYPD reported the woman was on Flushing Avenue near North Elliot Place around 7:20 a.m. when she was struck by the pair, who were traveling west on the e-bike. Police said medics rushed the woman to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where she died. Her name was not immediately released.
The bike lane along Flushing shares sidewalk space with pedestrians, who must cross paths with cyclists to reach a bus stop at North Elliot Place. The e-bike riders, a 41-year-old man driving with a 39-year-old woman on the back, were taken to the hospital in stable condition. Police officials said neither were arrested. Their e-bike remained at the scene of the crash, which remained under investigation.
The deadly incident occurred on a busy corridor that’s become a hotspot for crashes in recent years. New York City’s first Wegmans opened nearby in 2019, and the construction included 700 parking spots in the Navy Yard. In 2020, the city's transportation department overhauled the roadway to provide cyclists with better protection from drivers.
At least 44 people have been injured in crashes on the stretch of Flushing between North Elliott Place and Navy Street since 2020, according to city data. Those figures include 22 cyclists and eight pedestrians.
Bystanders at the scene said they’re growing increasingly concerned about speeding e-bikes along the bike lane, noting that e-bikes moving at high speeds have become a common sight in the neighborhood.
"They come too fast, you know, every day. … They're not supposed to have bikes like this,” said Juan Santana, 60, who lives in the area.
The e-bike in Monday’s crash appeared to be a model produced by the manufacturer Movcan that can reach speeds of around 30 mph, according to marketing materials from the company.
The type of e-bike like the one involved in the crash is not legally allowed to move faster than 20 miles an hour in New York City. Later this month, all e-bike users will face a 15 mph speed limit.
Dan Kim, 40, who rode by the scene on a similar e-bike as the one in the crash, said he’s been subject to a recent NYPD crackdown on e-bike riders.
“Last year, I got like six [tickets] in one day,” said Kim. “They [the police] were just following me.”
Editor's note: This story was updated after the NYPD corrected its account of the e-bike riders' genders. The 39-year-old rider was a woman.
