The two-year-old girl hit by a bicyclist in Riverside Park on Saturday around 6 p.m. is expected to make a full recovery, police told CBS News. We checked with Capt. Marlon Larin at the 24th precinct and he said she suffered a “contusion to the forehead” and he expected she has been released from the hospital but had not confirmed that. The girl lives in Queens. Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital did not respond to our request for an update on her condition.
No arrests have been made; police have said the woman who hit the toddler could face charges.
Almost all bikers are attempted murderers at some pt in their lives. How many stop at CP lights when red? 5%? Biking in the city should be illegal or at the least cops need to start arresting these criminals.
Wow! “Attempted Murderers” Really??? That’s harsh. I remember riding my bike every day to High School on 57th St. and 2nd Ave. in the 70’s and I was never considered that! I’m trying to buy a bike so I can bike ride again! All this hate for bike riders is unbelievable. Yes, this woman should be accountable! Horrible what happened to the 2 year old but to call almost all bikers would be murderers is a little far fetched! Now I would believe that more from drivers.
I can say the same thing about pedestrians who ignore pedestrians signals and jaywalk. This city is filled with a bunch of d-bags who think the rules don’t apply to them. Rules provide predictability for everyone.
Have you ever crossed the street when the sign said Don’t Walk. If you have, did you serve any time for it. If not, maybe you should surrender to the authorities and check yourself into Rikers Island right away. The bicyclist who hit this kid and ran (or rode as the case may be) is an a$$ but is no more representative of all bicyclists than Donald Trump is of all white people who live in Manhattan!
Excellent satire of what has sadly become the general tone of the posts on this website.
I agree, bikers are completely disregarding all laws. They ride up the wrong way, cross on red, cross pedestrian walkways, ride on sidewalks. The Bike lane was the biggest mistake the city ever made. Like all other plans, they bill the tax payers 1000% of what the job would cost so they can cover bribes and kickbacks for the big shots assigning jobs.
I can’t see how your second sentence leads into your third in any logical way. If you are just making a series of separate and unrelated comments that’s one thing, but if not I don’t see how the behaviors you lead to the conclusion that the construction of a bike lane was a bad idea. On the contrary, bike lanes, including the one on Columbus, have been repeatedly and empirically shown to reduce many of these behaviors.
Bikes do * not * belong in Riverside Park space that was designed exclusively for pedestrians and peaceably enjoyed that way for some seventy years — until the bikers arrogated it.
They are an aberrant imposition and dangerous.
You should visit the Museum of the City of NY. You would learn that 100 years ago, bicycles were ubiquitous in the parks and streets of this city. A policy of building our motorways and promoting automobile transportation led to their decrease. Thank goodness for the past administration’s taking the streets back from all holy car.
Did they behave with such reckless impunity back then?
Hmm….an aberrant, dangerous imposition.
That is actually a remarkably apt and incisive characterization of at least a few other entities (ones that shall remain nameless for now). If only folks in these parts could even begin to realize this. Alas, the same (neo)McCarthy-esque intellectual tyranny that blinds them has made any open, honest public discussion of the matters-in-question utterly taboo and radioactive. (I suspect I’m already on the list for the re-education camps that, at the rate we’re going, can only be expected to be here before much longer.)
I didn’t realize bicycles were a new invention! I guess those old photographs of NYC in the 70s with people riding bicycles must be wrong.
And with regard to your allusions to age, I’d like to remind you that the victim was two years old – though I’m ashamed to say that the bike-away cyclist was purportedly in her 50s.
Bikes are, indeed, a new invention in a pathway that was meant for pedestrians.
I have nothing against bikes. The more bikes the better. However, they do not belong in pedestrian paths.
While I agree that many bikers are out of control, I’m impressed at the level of drama queenery here. Reminds me of the scene in Frankenstein with the villagers carrying torches and pitchforks chasing the monster.
It’s for comments like yours, Mark, that I wish WSR had a thumbs up button. i need to start working ‘drama queenery’ into my conversations.
Even better is the ‘shtick’ in Mel Brooks’ hysterically-funny Young Frankenstein, where the Blind Hermit accidentally sets fire to The Monster’s (the late Peter Boyle) thumb!
The Monster bellows in pain and rushes out of the hut, to which the Hermit responds:
“Wait, wait, I was going to make expresso!”
Espresso
I believe Mark summed this whole bike ordeal up (and many of the other topics we discuss here) beautifully with two words – drama queenery! Well stated.
Yes, using a slur to sum up another person’s point of view is always the best way to debate a topic.
Hear, hear!
While some of the reactions here are a bit dramatic, I do tend to agree that cyclists don’t belong in Riverside Park, at least not Riverside Park as it is currently designed. The path along the water simply does not allow enough room for pedestrians and cyclists to share the space safely. Instead of banning cyclists, I wish they’d consider widening the path and creating clearly designated bike/pedestrian lanes, with a barrier in between. While this wouldn’t eliminate the problem (some people are always going to disobey the rules and end up in the wrong lane) it would help tremendously. I noticed that they’re in the process of re-paving the path anyway–wish they’d widen it at the same time!
If this was IN THE PARK as the comments suggest, I would understand. If this occurred on the path, then it’s an accident and only an accident.
Simply put, use the PARK for strolling, walking your dog, and letting the kids run around. The PATH is for cycling, running, and walking.
I don’t understand why there is so much anger here. I guess that some people just want to throw stones. There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that bikes would ever be banned so for those of you who wish to cry foul, take a breath and relax.
The problems here is that ‘sharing’ the bicycle/pedestrian path doesn’t work. Never did, never will. There need to be completely separated paths. This hippy-dippy ‘can’t we all just get along’ just doesn’t work.
How are you differentiating “strolling” from “walking”? Who has determined that “strolling” is not appropriate for the path?
I don’t think most reasonable people would argue that bicycles should be banned from the park but rather that better demarcation of paths and enforcement of rules be implemented.
Sometimes one needs to use imagination rather than just make “all or nothing” rules.
So glad the child will recover. Such a tragic thing to happen.
It doesn’t make sense to have bicycles and pedestrians to share the same path. There definitely should be a separate area for each. I suspect the park designers were thinking that the bicycles there would be slow moving bikes like the types you see on a boardwalk (Citibikes even) not the high-speed ones. Simple common sense would prevail that a cyclist would be driving especially slow in crowded areas.
To be honest I avoid walking in that area because of the bicyclists. I am not sure where it is but the cyclists do get their own path further down south. There should just be an extension of it going north.
Even in areas where cyclists get their own dedicated path, pedestrians and runners choose to occupy those paths for their activities. There are alternative paths alongside the river for them (from which cyclists are banned) but they refuse to use them.
I rode the path down to 14th St yesterday morning and had to avoid numerous non-cyclists the whole way down. I couldn’t care less if I accidentally had a collision with any of them because they shouldn’t be there.
This doesn’t address the danger in Riverside Park where cyclists have a usurped pedestrian path.
These paths are much narrower than most sidewalks and I know of no conventional wisdom suggesting that bikes and pedestrian “share” space.
That’s a funny statement considering you’re the one that would most likely flip over your handle bars and break your clavicle bone.
Wrong…I’ve had collisions before with people who ran into the street either from between cars or into the bike lane while crossing the street while I had the light.
I didn’t feel anything or break anything.
It only takes one Woody. To say that you don’t care about hitting someone is irresponsible at best. Whether they’re in the wrong or not shouldn’t matter to you. The fact that you’re had collisions before makes me believe you’re a poor cyclist with no handling skills.
You give cyclists a bad reputation, probably didn’t even try to avoid your previous collisions given your earlier statements. Hopefully the next time you collide with someone you’ll learn your lesson. Until then, be safe.
Now that we’re relieved that the little girl is okay, maybe we could find out why it took so long for the ambulance to arrive.
As a possible avenue in the case of an emergency when an ambulance doesn’t appear quickly enough, I’d like to share the benefit of this experience:
About a year ago, on Broadway at 66th Street, there was an incident where an injured man finally stopped breathing after 22 of minutes of waiting for an ambulance.
In desperation, some witnesses spotted a small *firetruck* coming by, and flagged it down.
It took seconds for the firemen to perform the emergencies in place of the EMS, who would show up more than 5 minutes later.
The 911 dispatch system is bad at finding locations in parks. Good on the street grid, bad off it.
Some members of my cycle club suggest that people who spend a lot of time in Central Park keep the direct number for the Central Park Precinct handy, as they’ll find you faster than 911 will. (212) 570-4820
Bearing this out, I had problems directing 911 appropriately when I once called in seeing some homeless-looking people in upper Riverside Park, a little south of the Little Red Lighthouse, burning tree branches in Parks garbage cans one late-winter morning.
Thank you, Matt.
This is just a guess but maybe whoever called for help couldn’t give a precise location?…plus access to the paths for an ambulance is not exactly as easy and straightforward as a typical street location. I don’t keep track of emergency response times but they are simply averages and not set in stone or guarantees. Just a thought.
Great news! The greenway has its flaws, but some of those seem to be being addressed with a repaving job between 72 and 79 that appears better segregate uses. My assumption is that they are putting a two way bike lane against the rail and two way walking on the park side. This would be a smart way to avoid people having to cross a lane of bikers to access the park.
I hope this isn’t what the reconstruction work plans to do, quite frankly.
There’s a nonintuitive setup of the lanes on the Wagner Walk (from ~100th Street to ~125th street) where the westernmost third of the path is intended for pedestrians and the remaining two-thirds for cyclists/bladers in both directions. This means that southbound cyclists are supposed to be in the middle of the path, just left of a green painted line. Northbound pedestrians are supposed to be nearly all the way to their left.
People understand this predictably poorly. But not even consistently! If all northbound pedestrians here walked to their right, at least it would be easy to figure out where to be to give them a wide berth — which is precisely where the rule-following peds will be. Similarly if you’re a ped trying to give a broad berth to cyclists — I’ve done it both ways. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Matt, totally agree that part of the Greenway is a confused mess. That pathway is in desperate need of repaving and remarking to better distinguish bike lanes from ped lanes. Also for pedestrians in this section there is plenty of space for one to walk off the path on the grass, which is better on the joints than walking on pavement.
In most other sections, the Greenway is a SHARED space, why the heck can’t people behave in a civil manner and act responsibly? It seems that people turn off all common sense once they move into NYC.
Great news that the child is OK. The initial article implied that there wouldnt be a happy ending for her. I hope the cyclist will do the right thing and come forward.
Not all cyclists are lawless criminals that ride the wrong way. I follow traffic laws when I ride, wear a helmet and do not obnoxiously speed on shared lanes. Don’t be so quick to assume that all bikers are horrible. There are plenty of drivers that run lights, text while driving and annoyingly double park and stop in crosswalks so everyone mode of transportation has its own special group of inconsiderate operators. Don’t be so judgmental. Also, what exactly was a toddler doing unattended? Both parties are at fault in some sense. Its just too bad a little kid got hurt but will luckily be ok. It was an accident.
As a cyclist I never stop at red lights if I can cross without colliding with vehicular traffic. Pedestrians are – thankfully – very easy to go around, easier than cars anyway.
Drivers, on the other hand, are responsible for uncountable traffic deaths in this city every year. I’m doing my part by ostracizing drivers and damaging their vehicles at every opportunity.
What? Really? I hope you made a typo and didn’t just admit that you damage cars. Not only is that a dbag move but one day somebody in one of those vehicles is going to give you the biggest beatdown of your life. But perhaps that is exactly what you need!
Wait, did you just freely, publicly admit to deliberately damaging vehicles?
Wow.
I can’t believe you fell for that. It’s clearly an anti-bike troll pretending to be a cyclist.
I think this post is kind of misleading. There is no indication that she had to stay at the hospital any longer than it took her to get checked out.
I watched the CBS story being referenced and the reporter only said that the child suffered a “pretty serious bruise to her forehead,” but is expected to make a full recovery.
If all she came away with was a bruise, either the one guy who has been providing all the quotes is exaggerating by saying she was “pulverized” and hit with “massive force” and that this was the “worst thing he has ever seen” or this little girl might be a kryptonian. A bike moving full speed WOULD pulverize a little girl if there was a full-on collision.
The death, some years back, of Natasha Richardson (Neeson), after what seemed like a minor head injury has made us all wary.
And, according to the witness, this child “seemed” to go into a seizure.
I just came back from a morning at Riverside park btwn 68th-74th, and witnessed 3 accidents involved cyclists. The first happened when a tiny boy of about 2 years dashed from the benches to the rail by the river, and a cyclist flew off her bike in order to avoid hitting him. She got up and started yelling at a woman sitting on the bench who she presumed to be his mother, only to discover he belonged to a group of people having a picnic on the hill, and they were completely oblivious to what had happened.
The next two accidents involved ‘pro’ bikers going so fast that they were both injured when first, someone on a Citi bike veered to the left and cut in front of them, and the other when he decided to pass the riders on Citi bikes and pull into the path going in the wrong direction and hit the rail. I should add that the ‘pro’ cyclists are not shy about screaming obscenities at people and they behave like the rest of us are invading their own personal space.
Not exactly a peaceful morning sitting on a bench and looking out at the water. I started walking home up the hill when around the corner came a large group of 20+ year old males speeding down the hill like 5 year olds, screaming with music blaring, without even looking around to see if there were any pedestrians on the path.
I have never seen any police or park employees in this area, however there are several signs telling cyclists to give the right-of-way to pedestrians. Most of them are dark and posted high up and obscured by leaves. Does anyone know if there are ever any community meetings to discuss these things?
To terra lynn –
As DR suggested it would be good to notify City Councilperson Helen Rosenthal. Her local office is 563 Columbus Avenue, phone 212-873-0282. The legislative office phone is 212-788-6975.
Also State Assemblyperson Linda Rosenthal whose office is on 72nd Street, phone 212-873-6368.
And also Community Board 7. The CB 7 phone number is 212-362-4008.
You could also take a look at the websites and email if you wish.
Good luck.
After you’ve contacted * all * of the parties as Lisa indicates, Terra Lynn, you might want to add a call to 311. I have found that it works.
Of course, I’ve already been shown to be wrong right here with phone number and address, but it’s my hint that you will receive the strongest response from Helen Rosenthal. She has demonstrated a particular interest in pedestrian safety (as is indicated even in her Wikipedia entry).
I thank you for pursuing this. I hope that we will learn of your success!
Thanks for the update Lisa. I really appreciate all of the replies and info posted here. I hope something can be done about this problem. I noticed that one side of the walkway has been blacktopped (near the railing) but not by the benches. I want to find out if this is hopefully part of a bigger plan.
Thank you for correcting me, Lisa.
Terra Lynn — If you live near, you might prefer to drop by her office.
It’s at 230 West 72nd Street, second floor.
Thanks again DR, I really appreciate it!
Terra Lynn — I’m waiting for someone savvier than I about community action to respond to the detailed and vivid comments that you so carefully presented.
In the interim, my suggestion would be that you call the office of City Council Member Helen Rosenthal (212 873-6368). She has been particularly concerned about pedestrian safety. What’s more, the members of her staff are sympathetic and patient listeners and, in my experience, get to work quickly to remedy all problems that are presented to them by constituents.
DR, thank you so much for the response and the detailed info. I will definitely contact HR’s office!
After being yelled at and hit by cyclists in Riverside park, I hesitate to even go there any more for fear of injury. Even cyclists who are not moving at light speed ring those annoying little bells and expect pedestrians to move out of the way, which makes them appear very entitled. They are not entitled to the path any more than anyone else. As others have noted, the path is too narrow for pedestrians of all ages and speeding cyclists. It’s pretty surprising local city government hasn’t been more effective in solving this problem, because they are sitting ducks for a lawsuit. They are certainly aware of the problem, because I called Linda Rosenthal’s office about 2 years ago complaining about this problem. Her staff was sympathetic, and agreed there is a big problem, but in the 2 years since that call, I have not seen any changes. Whatever signage is in place is extraordinarily ineffective, totally ignored by cyclists, and never enforced. How many accidents or deaths will it take for the city to wake up and solve this problem?
I wish that someone would bring the story and comments here, as well as the ones dated August 24 (“Bicycle Slams Into Toddler…”) and other recent such articles about bikes, to the offices of both Linda and Helen Rosenthal, and also the Community Board, and press them for a response or public comment.
Yesterday, in Citarella’s, a man in his early sixties, needing help in getting use to his walker, told me that his condition was the result of having been hit by a bike over the weekend. He added that he was European: There were many more bikes there, he said, but very rarely an accident, because cops vigorously enforced rules.
It appears that you still frequent Riverside Park. As for us, two years ago, we stopped going there and south of there, because it was just a nerve-racking and perilous experience.