Cyclist Killed In Brooklyn Is Second Cyclist Fatality This Week In NYC
June 28, 2019, 11:45 a.m.
Ernest Askew is the 13th cyclist killed on New York City streets in 2019; 10 cyclists were killed in all of 2018.
Sutter Avenue at Chester Street, where cyclist Ernest Askew was struck and killed on Thursday night
A 57-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a driver in Brownsville last night, making him the 13th cyclist killed so far in 2019.
Police say that Ernest Askew was biking west on Sutter Avenue a little before 9 p.m. when an 18-year-old driver in a Hyundai heading north on Chester Street struck him. Askew, who lived a half mile away from the scene of the crash, died of his injuries at Brookdale Hospital. The driver was treated for hand injuries (the Daily News reports that it was from the glass coming off their shattered windshield).
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that no summonses were issued.
Askew is the second cyclist to be killed this week, after bike messenger Robyn Hightman was struck and killed by a truck driver in Flatiron on Monday.
On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked if his Vision Zero plan was in "crisis," given that traffic deaths are creeping up, and that 10 cyclists were killed in all of 2018.
"We do not take it lightly. We have to keep fighting with everything we got—more enforcement, more bike lanes which are on the way, a whole host of things," de Blasio said.
"We’re going to do more and more and this is yet another call to arms and we’ve had situations like this before where we had to go ever deeper with Vision Zero. It’s a living, breathing idea. It keeps growing and it will."
Less than a mile from where Askew was hit, police say that 74-year-old Paul Chipkin was struck and killed by a driver while he was standing in the street.
According to a police statement, Chipkin was standing in Ralph Avenue just south of Sterling Place at around 9:40 p.m. when a 38-year-old driving a Nissan SUV struck him.
No summonses were issued in Chipkin's case.
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