Dead Bicyclist's Family Faults 2nd Ave. Subway Construction

Via NY1

The family of a 26-year-old Chinese restaurant deliveryman killed by a MTA bus has spoken out about the tragedy. On Friday afternoon, Qi Ming Weng had apparently fallen off his electric bicycle riding on Second Avenue near 96th Street when a MTA express bus rolled over him, crushing his skull. The Post reports that Weng's relatives are blaming it on the Second Avenue subway construction that is taking up lanes.

Weng's aunt also can't believe that the bus driver, who was off-duty and driving to his route, didn't realize he had hit someone, "I don't believe the driver. He should have stopped."

A witness told the Daily News that the bus struck Weng to avoid a car that swerved into the bus's way, but he also said the Second Avenue subway construction was at fault, "The construction kills everything around here and now it kills people." A few of our readers agreed, commenting yesterday, The second ave project is hurting a lot of people. It squeezes lanes, obstructs visibility, just a big mess," and "I biked almost all the way through the construction on 2nd ave, it's pretty terrifying. Eventually we had so many near misses because people are not driving any slower or taking any precautions in their cars/taxis/buses despite the horrible condition of the road."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 27, 2011 2:53 PM

Comments [rss]

wqrtfewyuh

shopping-store.org/

Pashri Diaz

I'd say the only ones to blame are drivers. People drive much to recklessly in this city, changing lanes and pulling into traffic without looking. This goes for cars, bikers, buses, pedestrians, and especially taxis.

Emmily_Litella

Poor guy. We'll never know the truth unless some video materializes. The electric bikes are a growing scourge. Anyone that is too old and tired to make local deliveries in flatland Manhattan on a bicycle should get out of the way for someone younger that can do so. The whole point of being on two wheels is negated by these infernal contraptions.

NlGGAZ

as a biker I have to say that delivery guys are the worst bike salmoning with electric motor bikers in the world. These are the guys you have to go after NYPD! Now, I don't know what happened in this incident and it looks like he got killed because of the concrete blocks but damn if I ever saw a delivery guy following the actual traffic rules.

randomtransplant

Yes, but even as a south sloper you make horribly racist comments about Asian people.

I'm not sure people should be listening to you when it comes to who the NYPD should target.

canofpeas

I biked 2nd Ave. from 86th St for about 6 months going south to the LES and the problems for a cyclist don't let up until 57th St. It's hairy up there and very easy to get hit while trying to avoid bad road surface, potholes and lane changes. But I don't buy the driver's story; if he didn't see the cyclist, he wasn't paying attention.