{"id":359113,"date":"2026-09-28T19:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359113\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:46:08","slug":"pedestrian-dies-4-days-after-being-struck-by-cyclist-in-central-park-our-hearts-are-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359113\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedestrian Dies 4 Days After Being Struck by Cyclist in Central Park: ‘Our Hearts are Broken’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Richie O\u2019Brien and his family. Photo courtesy of GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

By Gus Saltonstall<\/p>\n

A pedestrian who collided with a cyclist in Central Park last week succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, the man\u2019s family announced.<\/p>\n

Richie O\u2019Brien, 41, was walking to his job as a union steamfitter around 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, when he was struck by a 32-year-old cyclist on a pedal bike, police said.<\/p>\n

An NYPD spokesperson told West Side Rag, along with other publications, that the collision happened within the park on West Drive near 84th Street. However, Laura Sackler, who witnessed the incident, told Streetsblog<\/a> that there was an error in the police report and the collision happened on East Drive around 84th Street near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bicyclist struck the pedestrian causing him to fall to the ground sustaining severe head trauma,\u201d police told West Side Rag in an email.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien was rushed to Weill-Cornell hospital in critical condition with severe head trauma, and placed in a medically induced coma.<\/p>\n

The bicyclist remained on the scene with minor injuries, police told WSR. There have been no arrests, according to NYPD.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien died on Sunday morning, his family announced online.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichie passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Sunday, September 27,\u00a0 with Ronni [his wife] by his side,\u201d the note read. \u201cAlthough our hearts are broken by this unimaginable loss, Richie\u2019s legacy will live on. He was able to give the gift of life to others through organ donation, helping those in need even in his final moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien is survived by his wife Ronni and their two eight- and 12-year-old daughters.<\/p>\n

\u201cRonni has been a devoted stay-at-home mom, dedicating herself to raising their two daughters, Kylie and Mia, who are just 8 and 12 years old,\u201d reads a note connected to a fundraiser for the family.<\/a> \u201cNow, while caring for her children and remaining by Richie\u2019s side through this unimaginable time, she is also facing the uncertainty of having to support her family without Richie\u2019s income.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD Highway District\u2019s Collision Investigation Squad.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie O\u2019Brien and his family. Photo courtesy of GoFundMe. By Gus Saltonstall A pedestrian who collided with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,4709,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-359113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-central-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}