The family of Mathieu Lefevre, the 30-year-old artist who was run over by a truck in East Williamsburg earlier this month joined Transportation Alternatives at a press conference today at 1 Police Plaza, calling on NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly to reinvestigate the case of Leferve, as well as other cyclist fatalities. On Monday we learned that no charges would be pressed against the flatbed truck driver who left the scene after killing Lefevre. He parked his truck just two blocks away and, according to the NYPD, "had no idea" that he'd hit someone. Lefevre's mother Erika says there were markings on the truck from the accident, which is why investigators decided to track down the driver.
Lefevre's family has been in New York since Thursday and has received little word from the NYPD. Earlier today Erika Lefevre told us that the detective she's been told to contact has not yet bothered to return her calls. Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, opened the press conference by listing many cases where drivers have clearly broken the law, killing pedestrians and cyclists who were obeying the law, and yet charges were not filed. He went on to explain how, in his opinion, this has become an epidemic:
The NYPD has consistently failed to file charges against drivers for their lethal behavior. Even in cases where there is clear wrongdoing no charges are filed... not even a mere citation for running people down like dogs in the street. We are here today to say that this must change. Ray Kelly, Mayor Bloomberg, you are failing to enforce basic traffic law. Ray Kelly, Mayor Bloomberg, you are failing to enforce a basic standard of due care. And Ray Kelly, Mayor Bloomberg, you are failing to hold accountable drivers who are killing New Yorkers with impunity on a daily basis.
There is no other way to kill person in New York City where to say 'I didn't see him' is allowed as an excuse. 270 New Yorkers died last year in collisions. 77,253 were injured. Many people, including some police officers, will blame the victims and say it's their fault. But, in seventy percent of these tragedies—look it up New York DMV—the driver responsible was breaking a traffic law at the time of the collision.
Since 2001 3,120 New Yorkers have been killed in crashes and over 800,000 have been injured. This is an epidemic on our streets and Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg are ignoring it. At the very least commissioner Kelly, come grieve with us, at least go to the scene, at least go to the scene, at least meet with the family, at least meet with Mayor Bloomberg.
Transportation Alternatives stressed that they aren't asking the NYPD or New York State to create new laws, but simply enforce those that are already on the books. During the conference Erika Lefevre demanded that the NYPD share more information about the case, saying, "It's important that we know what happened to our son." She did reveal that Mathieu was a skilled and experienced rider, he was wearing a helmet and that she was told that they were "unable to retrieve it." It's still unclear if his bike had lights on it; his friends said he usually used lights, but it's not confirmed that he used them the night of his death.
A service was held yesterday for Mathieu in Greenwood cemetery, with about 80 people in attendance and a little more than half of those from Montreal. He was one of four children, the only one residing in New York. He had talked to his mother most recently on her birthday October 10th, eight days before his death. The Lefevre family would like to stay in New York until they get more answers about the truck driver who killed their son, but they say it's unlikely they can afford to stay here and wait for the NYPD divulge more.
