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Ghost Bike Mysteriously Knocked Down, Mangled

2008_08_ghostbike.jpg
Photographs by amolho4 on Flickr

Reader Allan send us these photographs, which show that the Ghost Bike Memorial for Carl Nacht had been "knocked down and mangled, still attached to the sign post it was locked to. it looked like the sign post was cut down." A note had been left at the sign post, and Allan called the person, who believes Gray Line Duck vehicle knocked it down. Gray Line, however, told Allan they don't know anything about it.

Nacht, a doctor who loved to ride his bike and ran in 29 consecutive NYC marathons, was killed during an evening bike ride with his wife in 2006. A police tow truck turned from the West Side Highway towards the police impound lot at West 38th, and hit Nacht, who had been on the bike path. Nacht's wife said in 2006 that the driver didn't yield to them, as he should have, "We thought because we were on a bike path, we were safe."

Here's the Ghost Bikes website, and this is the entry on Nacht. In June, New York magazine looked at the Ghost Bikes around the city.

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Comments [rss]

  • chuzzlewit

    awww

  • Jerky

    It was NYPD tow truck that killed him, no charges. Does anyone actually believe he would ever be found at fault??? Even if he was pulling hits off a crack pipe while Ray Kelly was blowing him in the front seat with with a pipe bomb and copy of the Koran next to him, the NYPD would call it an "accident".

  • VanessaNYC

    What I mean is, your comments have been much kinder and saner lately. I like the new you.

  • VanessaNYC

    "#8 - He's been Dead 2 years and it's not really a memorial as much as a gentle reminder and a warning to not let your guard down against killer cars."

    Babyhitler,

    Have you been going to church, or something?

  • JacqueMehoff

    those 2 years the Dr. could have been helping lots of people.

    that's just a mess of traffic signals there, arrows, lines, curbs hopefully a car hits the lamp post and it hits the driver.

  • babyhitler

    #8 - He's been Dead 2 years and it's not really a memorial as much as a gentle reminder and a warning to not let your guard down against killer cars.

  • sj

    I just want to put it out there that if I should die on a road somewhere, whether as a pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist, or car driver, please everyone have the class to NOT put up some stupid roadside memorial where I die.

    That's what cemeteries are for. If everyone put up memorials where others died, that's all we'd ever see.

  • NannyState

    If you memorialized everybody who fell everywhere, you'd soon feel like you're living in a graveyard. A week or two is long enough for these memorials. After that, it's better to do something very discreet or just take it to a different venue. It's a shame that this biker was killed and little else came of it.

  • I guess... it's a dangerous intersection.

  • rachelblue

    I didn't realize that ghost bikes were a worldwide movement. It's a shame there isn't a similar movement to honor pedestrians -- certainly the ghost bike is a more powerful image than those sad dried flowers you see tacked up to poles, or those "A PEDESTRIAN WAS KILLED CROSSING HERE -- BE ALERT -- CROSS WITH CARE" on Queens Boulevard.

  • Toby von Meistersinger

    Whoever hit it is obviously guilty of hit and run.

    The sign is city property.

  • thefacts

    The person is dead a year and this memorial is still there on public property?

    Morbid!

    People are killed in public all over NYC and the makeshift street-memorials are usually removed after the funeral.

    Time to move on.

  • Jen Chung

    I do not believe the police tow truck driver was ever charged--I believe it was called an accident, but I'll have to look up some things to check.

  • babyhitler

    that ghost bike should have worn a helmet.

  • shaunnehill

    Your just asking for it riding on that thing. What kind of bike is that anyway?

  • interlard

    Can Gothamist tell us what happened to the driver of the vehicle that killed Carl Nacht? Was there a penalty for plowing your truck into cyclists?

    The problem with many of these news articles is the lack of follow-through on the story. If "justice" was done, it's sad but shit happens. If there's no justice and the police are apparently allowed to kill innocent people with impunity, we have a big problem on our hands.

  • cwbuecheler

    It certainly doesn't look malicious, no. If you leave something standing in one place in this city for long enough, it's going to get banged up.

    In a way, it helps to illustrate the exact problem that the ghost bikes are trying to bring to light.

  • Nick S

    Yeha, the tone of this article is as if someone did this maliciously...my first reaction was "drunk asshole hit it and drove off"

  • eyekantspel

    It looks to me like someone drove into it.

    I guess now we need a ghost ghost bike.

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