The bicyclist who died while riding on the Manhattan Bridge Friday night was identified as 27-year-old Brooklyn resident Sam Hindy. Hindy's father Stephen, a former Middle East correspondent for the AP and Newsday reporter who later co-founded the Brooklyn Brewery, said, "We're just devastated. This is the worst thing that could happen to any parent. It's any parent's worst nightmare."
Sam Hindy and a friend were riding back from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the upper roadway amongst cars. Steve Hindy told the NY Times that "the police told him that the two riders had taken the wrong ramp and found themselves on the roadway with trucks and cars." The Daily News also reports that the police think the pair were riding on the upper roadway because the bike path was obstructed by construction. When Hindy and friend Benjamin Price turned around to head for the lower roadway, the Post explains that Hindy "struck a barrier, sending him flying [15 feet] down onto the lower roadway through a split in the bridge, landing next to a car."
The car, a 1995 Toyota, then hit him. The 62-year-old driver Joachim Romage said, "A bicycle hit the right side of my car. I didn't see the guy. I thought it was garbage bags. He didn't hit my car, he hit the street. I was so shocked. How can someone riding on the upper level flip over?" Charges were not filed against Romage and Hindy, who was born and raised in Brooklyn and had been working at Double Click, was pronounced dead at New York Downtown Hospital. Price was uninjured.
There is some question about whether Hindy was intoxicated, as the pair had been drinking before biking over the bridge, but there is no substantiation at this point. Further, Hindy was apparently not familiar with the Manhattan Bridge, as he usually biked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick criticized the Manhattan Bridge's bike-friendliness, telling the Post, "The traffic is so thick around the bridge and the street grids are so confused that without a map or experience, it's understandable how someone could be misled and end up on the roadway."
