Off-Duty Firefighter Who Rammed Cyclist Arrested For Reckless Endangerment, Driving Without A License
June 10, 2019, 4:55 p.m.
'What we see in the video is Mr. De La Rosa clearly attempting to run over a cyclist.'
Brauley De La Rosa, the off-duty FDNY firefighter seen on video deliberately driving into a cyclist on the West Side Highway this week, has been arrested. He was charged with reckless endangerment and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle—both misdemeanors.
De La Rosa, 27, turned himself in at the 10th Precinct on Monday afternoon, police said. A growing group of elected officials and advocates had spent recent days calling for his arrest, and demanding answers from the NYPD about why he was initially allowed to leave the scene without charges.
Driver almost hits biker. Biker gets confrontational. Driver takes biker’s phone, proceeds to run him over. Driver should be in jail along with his https://t.co/sKsyCSRCTZ shirt. pic.twitter.com/4O5LGT0Pnl
— Liz Gonzales (@TheLizGonzales) June 6, 2019
"This isn't complicated," Brooklyn Councilmember Antonio Reynoso said during a rally at City Hall, hours before the arrest was announced. "What we see in the video is Mr. De La Rosa clearly attempting to run over a cyclist. One slip of the foot and we could be having a different type of press conference."
According to witnesses, De La Rosa blew through a red light on Thursday morning, nearly hitting the cyclist and two pedestrians as they crossed West 24th Street. Confronted by the cyclist, he allegedly became aggressive, threatening him and snatching his cell phone. De La Rosa then got back in his Dodge Challenger, and as the cyclist stood defiantly in front of the car, proceeded to repeatedly accelerate into him.
Videos taken by witnesses show a Traffic Enforcement Agent and a police van arriving at the scene, then allowing De La Rosa to drive away. It's unclear when police determined that he had a suspended license, or why his license was suspended. Records show that the license plate on his Dodge Challenger has been cited for 11 school zone speeding violations.
The driver (an off-duty firefighter) who blew a red light & maniacally kept pushing a cyclist with his car on the West Side Hway last week would have triggered the Reckless Driver Accountability Act to be booted or impounded. We need stronger tools to combat sociopathic driving. https://t.co/StBx0khAzK
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) June 10, 2019
Reached by phone on Friday, De La Rosa told Gothamist that the response to the video was "totally blown out of proportion."
"The guy hit my car with his bike and then wouldn't move," he added. "I was just trying to get out of the way [so] traffic could continue on."
One witness at the scene, Brandon McDonough, told Gothamist on Monday that he was surprised by how certain the driver seemed that he would not face consequences for his actions. "If there's a police vehicle approaching your car with the lights on, you don't get out," he said. "I thought that was kind of fucking nuts. The whole situation made me think road rage."
Following the confrontation, McDonough spoke with the cyclist, who he says seemed "in shock, really shaken up."
"He was like, 'I'm so late to work, I'm just trying to get work,'" added McDonough. "He was a really mild-mannered person. He just wanted to get the hell out of there."
