A photo of George Mamales from his obituary.
George Mamales, an 85-year-old who lived on Riverside Drive, died about three weeks after being hit by a truck on West End Avenue and 93rd Street.
Mamales was a Korean war veteran and an accomplished dancer, according to his obituary. He also taught ballet and Pilates.
The crash occurred on August 23 and Mamales died on September 11, according to police. The police narrative of the crash is below.
On Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at approximately 1550 hours, police responded to a 911 call of a motor vehicle collision at West 93 Street and West End Avenue, within the confines of the 24 Precinct. Responding officers were informed that an 85-year-old male was lying on the roadway, unconscious and unresponsive, with head trauma. EMS responded to the location and transported the male to Saint Luke’s Hospital where he succumbed to his injures on September 11, 2016. A preliminary investigation revealed that a 2004 Freightliner box truck, was travelling westbound on West 93 Street and was a making a left turn onto West End Avenue where it struck pedestrian, who was attempted to cross West 93 Street. The operator of the vehicle remained on scene. There are no are no arrests and the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is investigating.
A loss for his family, friends, neighborhood, and his dear dance and Pilates students.
How sad – yet another tragedy in our neighborhood. Are freightliner box trucks permitted on West 93rd and West End? It sounds like either the senior or the box truck driver ran a red.
Maybe Gale Brewer or Helen Rosenthal can help with some answers.
yea maybe
Trucks are legally allowed to drive on WEA for local deliveries, so if the driver was doing a delivery or pickup within a half dozen blocks, he was legally OK.
You are correct, someone must have had a red light – if there is an absence of cameras or independent witnesses we need to go with whatever statement the truck driver made to the NYPD. Strange that the excerpted police report didn’t include a statement from the driver.
This is a crazy statement. If a person is shot, and that person dies, we do not solely rely on the shooter’s version of events (if no witnesses/cameras).
This guy had made it 85 years without walking in front of truck. I doubt he started that day. The person behind the wheel of the truck had a responsibility to drive in a safe/ controlled manner. I hope the CIS is investigating – if the driver’s response is simply ” I didn’t see him” that is not sufficient.
The truck was turning left onto West End Ave from West 93rd st. From this information we can deduce that both the truck and the pedestrian had a green light. Since pedestrians always have the right of way, I would say the uncharged driver of the truck is at fault.
From the description we can’t deduce anything. If the pedestrian was really crossing 93rd when hit either he or that truck was going against the light. If he was crossing WEA that’s a different story but that is not what this narrative states.
Pedestrians don’t have green lights – traffic signals are for vehicles. Pedestrians have walk/don’t walk signals which they rarely pay attention to.
The truck made a legal left turn on a green light. The pedestrian was crossing on a green light. No traffic violations, just an accident. Likely the driver was negligent.
Pedestrian was crossing 93rd or crossing West End? It doesn’t really make sense that he was crossing 93rd? Otherwise the turning direction of the truck wouldn’t matter because the accident would have occurred before the vehicle entered the intersection. Maybe they meant crossing West End on the south side of 93rd? I hate crossing West End and will only cross it facing oncoming traffic. I don’t trust drivers turning left from behind me to care at all about killing me or my kids. Sad state we live in.
“I hate crossing West End”
so much for the ‘New Traffic Plan for West End Avenue’
i guess that’s already been deemed a success?
“just an accident. Likely the driver was negligent.”
something’s not right with these words
It is my understanding that trucks are only allowed to drive 2 blocks on WEA to make deliveries. Has that changed? That said, NYPD does not enforce the regulation anyway and truckers know this.
was this part of the Vision Zero initiative?
No, this was part of what Vision Zero is trying to prevent.
This neighborhood needs an Exorcism!
Waaaaay too many incidents & fatalities!
Posessed by Bad Decisions
Why no arrest? When these vehicles so often make a left turn without a pause… So, a reward for remaining at the scene: all is forgiven and forgotten? Excuse me, but I am almost certain I am missing something. The light, the speed, certainly, but the turn without a pause to LOOK– (driving without prescription glasses?) Is it really so easy to take a life?
…why, “Vision Zero” is quite an appropriate term for this atrocity now that–unfortunately–I’ve taken the time to think of it???
Keep up the sloganeering, you who are elected and selected to protect the public, all the while knowing that it prolongs the inevitable need to come up with even better and smarter slogans, while the people come up with additional morbid sayings, enabling ourselves to grin and cross the street, while cynically praying it won’t be me this time… This is how we maintain the re-semblance of peace, here on the civilized upper westside. After all, in midtown, the bikes just speed by and ring and the cars just honk continuously, so at least no one can relax and get hit while coming up with the next crack, up here, we are lucky; near-death or death comes as a complete surprise.
Re: slogans
you would be amazed at what Vision Zero really entails. It is a very effective thing when implemented. Visit Sweden.
It has something to do with ethics– it’ll never work here.
Okay, I am now going to read what I just googled about Vision Zero. Thank you,dannyboy.
Dannyboy, I am not going to visit Sweden. You are saying something there works that doesn’t work here, right? Tell us how to change so we don’t have to move there and ruin it for them. I am sick and tired of having cars turn so close to me (in FRONT OF ME) that I spend the next days wishing I had scraped it with an umbrella point or something. I mean, this type of thing happens SO often. The elderly are pretty much not safe to cross the street on West End Avenue in the lower 70’s, by the way. It is really scary out here, on the wild, wild westside. And it is not getting ANY better.
from the Swedush Vision Zero mission statement:
“The Vision Zero approach has proven highly successful. It is based on the simple fact that we are human and make mistakes. The road system needs to keep us moving. But it must also be designed to protect us at every turn.”
https://www.visionzeroinitiative.com/
now compare that to nyc. Yikes!
This sounds like a manslaughter.
Just a traffic ticket?
If he was making left, the old vet had the right of way.
The operator should be charged.
For all our sake!
For safer street!
If, as the police narrative states, the pedestrian was crossing W 93rd St. he did not have the right if way. That seems unlikely but that is what it says. If he was crossing WEA he had the right of way.
This is a clear example of the driver ‘Failing to Yield’ to a pedestrian. And it is a clear example of why we need better safety infrastructure on West End Avenue. This could have been my elderly UWS parents.
Perhaps signs that read: “Drive as if your Elderly Parents live here” would help?