A teenage boy was struck and killed by an allegedly drunk driver on Sunday night, while riding his bicycle along the painted median separating lanes on Gerritsen Avenue in Gerritsen Beach, according to the NYPD. The driver remained on the scene.
Police said that 17-year-old Sean Ryan was riding his bicycle northbound down the middle of Gerritsen Avenue near the corner of Gotham Avenue shortly after 8:45 p.m. on Sunday—about half a mile from his home—when he was fatally struck. The driver, 24-year-old Thomas Groarke, was headed south in a white Honda Accord when he drove onto the painted median and struck Ryan.
(RLJR News)
EMS responded to the scene and pronounced Ryan dead on arrival. The crash left the teenager's bicycle mangled in two pieces on the roadway.
At least 13 cyclists have been killed on NYC streets in 2016 to date. By comparison, five cyclists had been killed this time last year—a year-to-year increase of about 140%.
The Daily News reports that three other people were injured in the crash, one seriously, though it was not immediately clear if Groarke was injured.
Groarke, who lives in Bay Ridge, remained on the scene and has since been charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, and driving while ability impaired.
Also on Sunday, an allegedly speeding driver slammed into several vehicles in Queens, killing one woman and leaving her 9-year-old daughter in critical condition. A witness told the Post that the driver, who fled the scene, seemed to be drunk, as was his passenger. "Just the way he was talking, the way he was moving, [I could tell] they were drunk," the witness said. "[The driver] was slurring his words."
On Saturday, an allegedly drunk off-duty NYPD officer fatally ran over a college student on a Williamsburg sidewalk, injuring others.
