Police in New York are searching for the driver of a private sanitation truck that struck and killed a woman in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood during the early morning hours of Jan. 16. The 67-year-old local resident was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders. Accident investigation specialists from the New York City Police Department are said to be scrutinizing security camera footage to identify the truck and its driver.
The fatal accident took place at the intersection of Bay Parkway and 86th Street at approximately 4:00 a.m. Local residents say that cars and trucks frequently go through the intersection at high speed as it is very close to a highway entrance. The City Council member who represents the district says that he plans to call a meeting to discuss requiring trucks and buses to be fitted with sensors that would alert their drivers about nearby pedestrians and cyclists. A regulation requiring the sensors could be implemented by 2024 according to media reports.
NYPD officers responded to the scene of another pedestrian fatality about five hours after the woman was killed. Officers say that an as yet unidentified 30-year-old woman forced open the doors on a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus because she had missed her stop. She was caught under the bus and crushed by its rear wheels. The NYPD says that eight pedestrians have already been killed in the city in 2020.
Personal injury attorneys with experience in hit-and-run pedestrian accident cases could help New York residents who are injured by drivers who flee the scene to seek compensation. The uninsured driver provisions of car insurance policies may cover hit-and-run accident costs even if the policyholder was on foot when they were injured. If an insurance claim is not possible, attorneys could assist hit-and-run victims to file a claim under the New York State Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Act.