Extra, Extra

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  • Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a scaffolding collapse on 127th St. and Morningside Ave. in Manhattan, a stabbing at East 96th St. and Rutland Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Guy R. Blvd. in Queens.
  • That huge fire visible across the Hudson last night was a blaze that consumed a sailboat docked in Weehawken, NJ.
  • A cyclist was hit by several different cars while on the Manhattan Bridge this week.
  • Rev. Al Sharpton marched in DC this week to call for widespread racial justice.
  • Muddy paths and trails through the woods may not be NYC's strong suit, but NYU has a nationally ranked cross-country track team.
  • The B Train only scored a "C-" in the MTA's most recent survey of riders.
  • First Lady Laura Bush visited the city to honor an elementary school teacher.
  • Almost 15,000 families stand to lose their homes in the ongoing credit-crunch sub-prime mortgage meltdown.
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A cyclist was hit by seven different cars while on the Manhattan Bridge this week.

"And other than that, how was your day?"

The unidentified cyclist was traveling to Brooklyn on the lower level of the bridge when he was hit by the vehicles just before midnight, police said. ... It was not immediately clear whether the cyclist fell off the designated bike path or if he pedaled onto the roadway reserved for cars.
I've only been on the pedestrian walkway of the bridge, but I don't see how anyone can "fall off" the bike path if it's surrounded by chain link fence like the walkway. Besides, how do you fall off then keep traveling toward Brooklyn? Also, if he fell off the bike path, wouldn't that put him in the Manhattan-bound lanes of the bridge?

If he did this intentionally, he's probably one of those idiots who rides against the flow of traffic because he thinks it's safer if you can see traffic coming towards you.

The Times has more complete coverage of the bicyclist. He and a friend mistakenly got on the upper level roadway, they headed to a construction area in the middle of the bridge for safety but he hit a low concrete barrier and fell to the lower level where he was hit by a car. The cyclist, Sam Hindy, died of his injuries early this morning.

From what some of the later reports say, it looks like he was on the upper roadway of the bridge. There is a turnaround area on the upper roadway's Manhattan side that is used by construction people -- I could see the cyclist falling from there down to the lower roadway even though there's a barrier -- and people on any level in any vehicle not in a traffic jam drive like a bat out of hell at that point ... If you're on the lower roadway you know this as the area on the Manhattan side where the roadway is covered.

FYI the bike lane on the north side and the pedestrian lane on the south side are separated from the lower roadway by fenced-in subway tracks.
Pretty much impossible to pass through. It's very safe.

Sources tell various media outlets that the bike rider may have been intoxicated.

The deceased was a son of one of the founders of the Brooklyn Brewery ... dad is the one who used to be an Associated Press reporter in the Mideast.

What an ugly way to die.

"Sources tell various media outlets that the bike rider may have been intoxicated."

right, what sources? what are their reasons? why even mention this?

WOMAN RAPED: SOURCES TELL MEDIA OUTLETS SHE WAS ASKING FOR IT BY WEARING A SKIRT.

um, how about you don't play the city's/bloomburg's blame the cyclist game.

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Why mention that he was quite possibly drunk?!? Because if maybe he was sober then he doesn't end up on the wrong part of the bridge, and then doesn't end up dead!!!!

okay... that would make sense if he was drunk. when these news reports say those on the scene believe he may have been drunk, they never explain why. so really there is no reason to publish unjustified claims like that. if you make that claim, explain WHY you are making that claim, otherwise it does nothing but to take away from the saddness of this accident.

oh, and he wasn't drunk, the bike path on the manhattan bridge can be confusing to get onto, he and a friend ended up in the roadway, got over to a construction area that was blocked off to turn around, hit a concrete barrier and fell. just confused due to the lack of proper signage for cyclists on city bridges.

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#5 - "why even mention this?" BECAUSE THE CYCLIST WAS DRUNK WHILE RIDING!!! How about *you* don't play the city's/bloomberg's game by not ignoring the obvious.

That Times story is a lot different from the Post story and makes a lot more sense. Big surprise, eh? No mention of 7 cars.

[QUOTE]A bicyclist was clinging to life after he was struck by several cars on the Manhattan Bridge last night, police said.[QUOTE/]


The post has it has several cars NOT seven. Gothamist just made a typo.

QUOTE]A bicyclist was clinging to life after he was struck by several cars on the Manhattan Bridge last night, police said.[/QUOTE]


The post has it has several cars NOT seven. Gothamist just made a typo.

[QUOTE]A bicyclist was clinging to life after he was struck by several cars on the Manhattan Bridge last night, police said.[/QUOTE]


The post has it has several cars NOT seven. Gothamist just made a typo.

A bicyclist was clinging to life after he was struck by several cars on the Manhattan Bridge last night, police said

The post has it has several cars NOT seven. Gothamist just made a typo.

#8, a witness has no way of knowing if the cyclist was drunk and at the time of the report there was no positive test (or any test for that matter) that has proven him drunk. so unless police or medical examiners have stated that he was drunk, the ASSUMPTION of a lady in a car on the bridge, most likely on the lower level where she only saw him getting hit by cars and not riding his bike, is pointless and unnecessary.

do you have proof that no one else does? i mean, you made a pretty strong, factual sounding statement. so you know for a fact that he was drunk? you read that the medical examiner has tested his body and his blood-alcohol level was pretty high? i mean come on, what's your proof? or all cyclists at fault when they die?

#14

Ok, so maybe he wasn't drunk. He's just an idiot. DOes that sound better? And if you're riding on the manhattan bridge, and you die, then yes ... it is the bikers fault. Just this instance.

There ... I've removed the "all cyclists" and "drunk" portions of your silly defense, made it more .... easy for you to understand.

[13] Still quite a difference between the two stories. The Times says he was hit by one car while the Post says he was hit by several. Considering the Post's "journalistic standards," I'm more inclined to believe the Times.

#15, do you ride bikes in the city? if so, you have to understand how confusing it is for cyclists. i just moved here from san francisco and couldn't find the entrance to the williamsburg bridge bike path... my fault for being an idiot or a lack of proper signs? i found the roadway entrance... it would have been easy for me to mistake it with the bike path entrance... it was an accident, why call him an idiot?

From Newsday:

"But instead of crossing on the detached walkway, Hindy and his friend rode up the bridge's main eastbound roadway.

Before reaching the center of the bridge, the pair took a U turn into a central construction area and headed back down the bridge, apparently in an attempt to find the walkway entrance, Steven Hindy said."

An accident... so stop calling him an idiot or a drunk.

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