Photos by David Torres.
A 21-year-old Fordham graduate was killed early Saturday morning while crossing the street at 61st street and Broadway, and the driver fled the scene, according to police. Noah Goldstein was found “unconscious and unresponsive” around 3:15 a.m. in the crosswalk of Broadway at 61st street; EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
Goldstein (shown in the photo at right) “attempted to cross westbound on Broadway at the intersection of West 61 Street, when [Goldstein] was struck by an unknown vehicle which then fled the location, continuing northbound on Broadway,” an NYPD release said. Goldstein, who had just graduated from Fordham’s theater program had been headed home from a party when they was hit, according to the Daily News. (A friend of Goldstein’s told us he preferred the pronoun they to he, and this is also how Goldstein is referred to on the Fordham Theater Facebook page, so we are honoring his wishes.)
“We were very shocked,” said friend Dorian Russell, 20. “Noah just graduated in May. . . such a fun-loving guy, a really nice guy. Noah was never in a negative mood, and lifted the spirits of everyone around.”
Goldstein had landed a job as set designer for “Lifetime Supply,” a show set to open this week at the IRT Theater on Christopher St. It was their first paid, post-college position.
This is not the first serious crash at this intersection this week. At around 5:02pm Wednesday, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle at West 61st Street and Broadway, according to FDNY. The crash victim was taken to Roosevelt Hospital. The city is considering changing some traffic rules in this area.
I am so sorry for those involved.
So am I.
I’m trying to imagine just how a cop initiates that telephone call to the family. Perhaps with “Are you the parent of _____? I’m Officer _____ of the NYPD.”
At that point does the parent find a chair?
One young life is over and, often, it’s over for the parents as well.
Unfortunately, the NYPD has had lots of practice. It’s a call they have to make about every day and a half in NYC.
Without better street design and better enforcement, this vehicular carnage and these heartbreaking notification calls will continue.
Mayor deBlasio’s version of Vision Zero which focuses on “everyone must do their part” education campaigns and passing laws that are rarely enforced (speed limit, right of way) may give people the warm fuzzies, but they are not making our city much safer.
I wish DeBlasio would wake up and get the message…and the next mayor too since DeBlasio is toast ~
The accident occurred at 3:15 a.m. Yet some of the pictures taken appear to be in daylight.
It concerns me that the young man’s body remained there for so long.
Is this typical for vehicular crime scenes?
it is typical for crime scenes when the Victim is DOA at the scene sometime as long as 4 hrs or more depending on the crime
I would imagine then that the next-of-kin is not notified until the victim can be moved from the crime scene.
I won’t go into detail but there was a similar incident a few weeks ago and the body was there for several hours before the coroner arrived. There was only a blanket over him and it kept blowing off which was horrifying, so I’m glad to see they put this little partition around the young man. So sad that he was alone and it makes me wonder if he was coming from work, or a friend’s home, or if anyone has noticed that he’s missing yet.
I looks as though a lot of people are already missing him, Lynn:
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/hit-and-run-driver-kills-pedestrian-21-article-1.2678630
I’m so sad for this loss of life, a young kid, just crossing a street. 3:00AM, I wouldn’t be surprised if the driver were drunk, why else would you be going up Broadway at 3AM at those speeds and running someone over?
I was struck by a car on Tuesday evening, I was on a motorcycle, he took off going over 50+mph southbound on Columbus Ave. It’s Day 3 since it has happened, and still haven’t heard a word about who did this. I don’t understand why traffic cams are not more easily accessible. The person who killed this kid may get away with it.
I went to three doorman buildings to try to get footage at the time of the accident, and the video quality of all three systems was not good enough to make out a face, let alone a license plate.
We can’t continue to allow drivers like this flee without being caught. We have the technology, why aren’t we using it? Buildings should be required to have cameras that are high-res, and wide-angled, we all have a responsibility to quickly apprehend these lunatics.
The family is going to have to bury their son and they will probably never know who did this, nor bring justice. At 3AM, I’m sure there weren’t a lot of witnesses, if any.
I’m sorry that happened to you Eli D. and I know how frustrating it is not to have any help from the police. When I first came to NYC I was mugged and beaten within a week of my arrival and the police brought mug shot books to my hotel room and told me that even if I found the perpetrator it was highly likely they’d be right back out on the street the next day. Not very supportive or inspiring. I’ve been knocked down twice by bicyclists, once bad enough to need ongoing physical therapy, but the police wouldn’t make arrests because they claimed the bike rental companies were at fault (not citibike) for allowing the bikes on the bridle path. The second time a bus stopped to let me cross the street and a guy on a bike swerved around the bus and didn’t see me there until it was too late. More physical therapy but no arrests because I was basically told if I didn’t let them take me to emergency there would be no report. You are very fortunate to be alive and well and I hope you’ll get some closure and find the person who hit you. Are you saying that the police videos from the cameras on the street aren’t available to you? Maybe one of the local news reporters could be of some help?
Eli D, I disagree that buildings should be required to have high res cameras on the traffic. They have cameras primarily to security of their building. Buildings are not responsible for enforcing traffic laws. If hi res cameras are needed the city should install them on the traffic lights.
Russia was in the same position and drivers use dashboard webcams.
There is zero enforcement anywhere. I see out of state drivers (I am looking at you Bew Jersey) driving like lunatics all the time. And they all seem to get away with it. Someone with hos whole life ahead of him. A terrible thing.
Unfortunately, traffic fatalities are another example of how the NYPD relies on cameras to catch law-breakers after the fact instead of a show of police presence to prevent crime. The city devotes it’s traffic resources to narrowing our streets to one lane and collecting revenue in the form of parking tickets. There is zero enforcement.
Explain to me how it’s possible to have a police presence at every intersection. Typical knee-jerk response to add even more unproductive police officers to the payroll. I’m old enough to remember when cops were on the street and not just riding around in pairs in cars. They don’t pay attention to much and are often on their phones whenever I see them. They should be barred from using their cellphones while on duty. Ironically, that intersection is just a block away from one of the busiest transit police command stations with police officers coming and going routinely.
(((((vibes)))))
Agree with Woody: many cops in cars are looking at their phones instead of being on patrol. They appear more than a little lazy.
Such sad news… Especially when hit and runs happen everyday in the UWS and nobody seems to care. Every day I see vehicles on west end avenue speeding and disrespecting traffic lights, often an inch away of hitting pedestrians.
This is a serious problem and should be taken seriously by the city council, more enforcement is obviously needed and someone needs to really do something to protect pedestrians.
This is a city of pedestrians and sadly drivers get away with anything and everything, including killing people.
Really sad and worrying.
This is so sad and perhaps preventable. Modifying stop lights so that pedestrians have specific time to cross, could go a long way. Pedestrians competing with SUV’s, delivery trucks, bicycles and cars for the right of way, is not working. I’m sure that there are several mathematical geniuses in this city that could come up with an algorithm that calculates the optimal amount of time for vehicles and people to proceed without increasing current stop light wait times. And how about enforcement on bicyclists? That could go a long way too. Just a thought.
” the city is considering” some changes? How long will it continue to “consider” before appropriate changes are made?
westy maven