A 29-year-old cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run on Jamaica Avenue on Aug. 18.
Photo courtesy of Google Maps/Gerardo Romo, NYC Council Media Unit
Advocates urged New Yorkers to support faster construction of street safety projects after two cyclists — one in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx — were killed on Tuesday.
Paulina Tec Choc, a 29-year-old Queens resident, was killed in a hit-and-run in Cypress Hills early on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 18. Police said she was stopped on her e-bike at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Cypress Hills Street at 5:48 a.m. when the driver, who was headed west on Jamaica Avenue, struck her from behind.
Tec Choc was thrown to the pavement. The driver did not stop, and ran her over before leaving the scene, police said. There is a red light at the intersection, though it was not immediately clear who had the signal at the time of the crash.
Officers found Tec Choc with severe trauma to her head and body. She was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Police have yet to identify the driver, who was in a white 2006 Ford F-250, and said an investigation is ongoing.
Tec Choc worked at a nearby Sonic drive-in and regularly rode her bike to work, according to Streetsblog, and her e-bike was street-legal, with a top speed of 25 miles per hour.
She was the 15th cyclist and the 10th e-bike rider to die in New York City this year, So far this year, crashes involving both regular bikes and e-bikes have increased, according to NYPD data, as have fatalities.
The intersection where Tec Choc was killed is particularly dangerous. Jamaica Avenue, Cypress Hills Street and Euclid Avenue converge at the busy juncture, and though there is a dedicated bike lane on Cypress Hills Street, there are no protections on the adjoining avenues or in the intersection. In the last five years, there have been at least 13 crashes resulting in more than a dozen injuries. In May, 42-year-old e-scooter rider Juan Quishpe died at the same intersection when he collided with a concrete barrier and was thrown to the ground.
“I’m devastated to hear that another family is experiencing the very worst day of their lives,” said Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, co-chair of Families for Safe Streets New York, in a statement. “My heart is with her family, friends, neighbors and community. No one should know this pain.”
Hours after Tec Choc’s death, an allegedly speeding driver caused a chain-reaction crash that killed 51-year-old Angelo Camero, a father who was reportedly on his way home from work.
More than 3,000 people have been killed by traffic violence since the city implemented Vision Zero in 2014, according to Transportation Alternatives. The group is urging New Yorkers to vote in favor of a ballot measure that will speed the timeline of safe streets projects to reduce construction timelines, and is planning a vigil to remember Tec Choc and Camero and support the ballot proposal on Aug. 29.
“Yesterday, drivers killed two New Yorkers just for daring to bike to or from work. We refuse to look the other way while our neighbors, friends, and family members are killed on dangerous streets,” said TA executive director Ben Furnas. “A vote for Ballot Question Three is a vote for safety over red tape. We need to finally deliver street safety infrastructure before a New Yorker is killed, not after.”