An NYPD officer crashed a police SUV into a cyclist in East Williamsburg early Monday morning, according to the authorities.
Officers were driving down Morgan Avenue with their lights and sirens on, responding to an assault call in East Williamsburg at about 1:40 a.m., when the officer behind the wheel hit the cyclist near Stagg Street, police officials said. The officers were traveling towards Flushing Avenue, spokesman Sgt. Lee Jones said, and the cyclist was riding his bike "against traffic." Morgan is a two-way street, and Jones said he didn't have a record of which lane the cyclist was in.
NOW: @NYPDHighway at crash, where officer hit pedestrian while responding to call in E. Williamsburg @ Morgan Ave/Stagg St. Victim survived. pic.twitter.com/6YN2Y9V7KA
— Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) May 15, 2017
Police spokespeople have told various other reporters that the cyclist was on the wrong side of the road, which seems possible, and that he was riding the wrong way on a one-way, which is not possible, assuming the crash did in fact occur on Morgan.
Emergency medical personnel transported the cyclist to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.
Sgt. Jones said the officers had been responding to a call about a 25-year-old woman who police at the scene classified as emotionally disturbed. She was later taken to Woodhull Hospital, according to Jones.
Morgan Avenue is not officially a bike route, but the broad thoroughfare lined with industrial buildings is one of the most direct paths between Bushwick and Greenpoint, and passes near numerous restaurants, cafes, art galleries, and loft apartment complexes. The two-mile-long road was the scene of 54 crashes in 2016, according to NYPD data, including three that injured five cyclists altogether. Two of the crashes that injured cyclists were at Morgan and Stagg.
