A driver operating a truck jumped the curb at Bowery and Canal Street on Thursday morning, killing a man and injuring two women before crashing into a parked car a block north, police said.
The crash happened around 10:40 a.m. as the driver of a Chevrolet truck carrying over 200 pallets turned right onto Bowery from Canal Street, according to the NYPD. Police said the truck mounted the sidewalk and hit three pedestrians, two women and a man.
All three were taken to Bellevue Hospital, authorities said. A 77-year-old man died, and the two women, 71 and 52, were in stable condition, according to police.
The truck continued north on Bowery and struck a parked sedan at Hester Street, officials said. The 66-year-old male driver was taken into custody there, police said.
Authorities are still investigating how the truck ended up on the sidewalk and whether the driver would face charges.
Police have not released the name of the man who died.
There have been 140 traffic deaths across the city so far this year, according to the Department of Transportation.
State driving records show the truck has four violations including failure to stop at a red light, speeding in a school zone, a parking ticket and a ticket for a missing inspection.
A phone number associated with the truck did not return messages.
The crash happened at an intersection known for problems. Earlier this summer Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged a 23-year-old woman with murder after a 2025 crash killed a cyclist and pedestrian at the intersection.
Bill Smith, 68, has run a jewelry shop in the building where the 2025 crash occurred for 50 years, and said he feels like a “target” with his shop at the bottom of the Manhattan Bridge.
“Something has to be done. I’m not sure what can be done, whether there’s got to be a physical impediment, these crashes continue to happen,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous intersection.”
This intersection is at the eastern end of a corridor the city has spent more than a year promising to redesign. In August 2025, transportation officials presented elected officials with a plan to widen the sidewalks on Canal Street between Broadway and Elizabeth Street, eliminate an eastbound traffic lane between Sixth Avenue and Hudson Street, and convert the triangle at Baxter Street into a pedestrian plaza.
But that plan stops at Elizabeth Street, short of the Bowery intersection where Thursday’s crash happened.
Marie Yan, 62, was on her way to an acupuncture appointment this morning and arrived on Bowery just minutes after the incident. She said she was not surprised there was another crash near the Manhattan Bridge.
Yan was born and raised in Chinatown, but said she’s always afraid to cross the street near Canal and Bowery.
“ It’s like you don’t know when to cross, I don’t feel safe. I don’t try to cross down here,” she said. “I live down here, but I’d rather go around to another spot than walk over here, if I had a choice.”
Councilmember Christopher Marte, whose district includes the intersection, blamed the city for “inching forward” on a redesign plan.
“It is an outrage that another life has been lost on Canal Street due to the apathy of the Department of Transportation and the neglect of City Hall,” he said in a statement. “This is the third life lost in just over a year. These people are not statistics, they are beloved by their family and friends.”
A spokesperson for the transportation department said the agency is reviewing what it called a horrific crash and said that it had lowered the speed limit, narrowed this section of the Manhattan Bridge off-ramp and added barricades to protect pedestrians and cyclists.
This is a developing story and was updated with additional information and comment, as well as the correct ages of the deceased and driver updated by the NYPD.