Teenager On Staten Island Is 16th Cyclist Killed On NYC Streets This Year

The intersection of Clove Road and Castleton Avenue

A 17-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a tow truck driver on Staten Island on Tuesday afternoon. The crash marks the 16th cyclist killed on New York City streets in 2019—six more cyclists killed than in all of 2018.

An NYPD spokesperson said that the teenage boy was riding west on Castleton Avenue shortly after noon when he was struck by the tow truck driver at the intersection of Clove Road. The driver, a 38-year-old man, was traveling south on Clove, and remained at the scene, police said. The cyclist was taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where he died.

No summonses or citations were issued, and the investigation is ongoing. The NYPD is withholding the boy's identity pending notification of his family. Update: The cyclist has been identified as Staten Island resident Alex Cordero.

A witness told the Staten Island Advance that the boy was riding with a group of people when he was hit. "A second witness could be heard telling police the truck 'ran right over him,'" the paper reports.

After 28-year-old Devra Freelander became the 15th cyclist killed on city streets earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the situation a "crisis," and pledged to "jolt the situation" with a ticketing blitz against dangerous drivers and a new cycling safety plan from the Department of Transportation to be unveiled soon.

Asked this past Friday if he supported using more of the city's budget to build more bike lanes, as City Council Speaker Corey Johnson does, de Blasio told WNYC's Brian Lehrer, "I’m going to not, you know, talk about next year’s budget process until we get to it."

"But I do want to say, you know, we are coming forward very soon, in a matter of days, with the next stage of our plan to address this recent, just horrible crisis with bicyclist fatalities," de Blasio added. "There’s lots of other enforcement measures that are already underway. We’re going to have a lot more to say next week about additional steps. But I’m certainly—I work very well with Speaker Johnson, if it’s a priority for him that’s going to matter a lot. And we’ve been constantly expanding bike lanes all over the city including a lot more protected bike lanes, but next week we’ll be able to say a lot more."