Truck Driver Who Hit Pedestrian Receives Three Summonses
The driver of the tractor-trailer that hit and severely injured a man on 81st Street and Amsterdam Avenue last week was cited for three infractions. He was operating a truck that was too long on a city street, had an oil leak, and had a malfunctioning dashboard indicator, according to Captain Timothy Malin, commanding officer of the 20th precinct. The man, who was considered “likely to die” after the crash, was still alive as of Monday night, Malin said.
Tractor-trailers that are 53 feet long or more are not allowed on city streets. They can only drive on specified highways in the city limits, as shown here.
But Malin said that the fact that the truck was operating on Amsterdam Avenue does not make it an “illegal truck” and does not mean that the driver is criminally liable for the crash.
“The truck should not have been operating on that street, but that does not make it an ‘illegal truck,’ because it was, in fact, properly registered and insured,” he wrote in an email to West Side Rag. “As for charging him with crime… Should he have been driving on that street? No. But does driving a truck on Amsterdam Avenue equate to the motorist having one of the culpable mental states necessary to charge a crime? No; especially when one considers that the pedestrian was intoxicated and did not have the light.”
The NYPD’s collision investigation squad is continuing to investigate. Police could still charge the driver in the crash; sometimes charges come weeks or months after the crash occurs.
If driving a truck that didn’t belong on the street caused the accident, that would be sufficient for a charge of reckless driving, I would have thought?
But nothing anyone said suggested that it did.
Trucks are driving all over the city and do not obey the city’s truck route rules. For example, there are trucks running up and down Central Park West and side streets all the time now. Yet. I can see zero enforcement at work.
Per the NYC Traffic Code:
53′ Tractor Trailers are illegal on EVERY NYC street under NYC Traffic Rule 4-15(j).
The truck broke the law by virtue of being on the city street. How is it not an illegal vehicle? It’s clearly not street-legal.
I am pleased that Captain Malin comment clarified the original report that: ““Malin said the incident was witnessed by several people at the busy intersection, and that the driver was deemed to not be at fault.”
The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is our best hope for the truth.
If the truck had been 52 feet long and the drunk guy had walked under its wheels the outcome would have been exactly the same.
Can we please stop the pedantic arguments? And create a rule for this site that no one can respond to a thread more than 3 times so that certain people don’t ruin intelligent conversations by injecting their two cents repeatedly when it stops adding any value?
That’s a fantastic idea.
Here are examples of Juan’s “fun, intelligent, respectful” openings:
Juan says (in response to BB): July 23, 2018 at 9:49 pm. If you had taken a minute to read the article…
Juan says (in response to Glenn): June 25, 2018 at 9:21 am. You clearly don’t leave Manhattan often…
Juan says: June 18, 2018 at 9:21 am. You really are a grumpy old man.
I, on the other hand, discuss ideas. The one instance where I said that I wouldn’t Reply is when Young Sally commented that I replied too often, so I accomodated her.
Brilliant idea.
I haven’t written any comments about the truck. But you Jay and and Leon continue your misinformation campaign.
On the last thread on this topic, you made over 20% of the comments, including “Young Sally, my discussion with you has ended here” which really adds a lot of value. You fell compelled to dominate conversations, in an all-knowing, snarky tone.
I envision blogs like this to be a neighborhood pub, with fun, intelligent, respectful discourse. The owner of this blog/pub almost always provides meaningful thought starters for conversation. At this pub, you play the role of the person who feels the need to stand in the middle of the pub and scream out his opinions, making it impossible for other patrons to carry on their conversations. And clearly I am not the only one who feels this way. Your only supporter seems to be your alter ego Bruce Bernstein.
For a guy with precise statistics at his fingertips you sure miss every other fact. For example “Your only supporter seems to be your alter ego Bruce Bernstein.” Try reading the Comments instead of just looking at the pictures before you post.
Also interesting is how you form your worldview using pubs as its center.Guess you must spend a lot of time in pubs. It shows.
I went ahead and cut out some words so you could read instead of only look at the pictures. Here is what words communiate to their readers:
” dannyboy says:
May 1, 2018 at 4:53 pm
Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (“the woman from Law & Order”) is the daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and, wait for it… actress Jayne Mansfield. I’d run as her Lieutenant Governor anyday.
UWS_lifer says:
May 1, 2018 at 5:54 pm
Wow, I did not know that!
Very cool, I guess she really had some amazing genetics. Makes sense. She’s a very beautiful, charismatic and talented woman.
See, this is why you should be our future Gov…very knowledgeable and responsive to your constituents.:)”
now what was that you were saying on your way back from the pub?
You forgot the part about lecturing others how to post on a blog and whether what they say is pertinent to the conversation. Apparently it’s a major breach of etiquette to widen the scope of a discussion.
Best post ever Juan. Some narcissists obviously just scream louder so they won’t be ignored. Thumbs WAY up on your analogy!
There’s also a lot of posts where some people use different names. The number of posts by a single user is often a lot more than 20%
Once again you are being pedantic and missing the message because you are trying to parse words and prove how smart you are, and in the process you are showcasing your ignorance.
The neighborhood pub is a figure of speech. Would you have been happier if I had said neighborhood coffee shop? Or a neighborhood piazza? My point still stands.
I apologize to the rest of the readers of this site for diverting the usually intelligent conversation into this back and forth. I am hoping that by taking this small step, I can prevent some people from repeatedly diverting the conversation. Unfortunately, I don’t think that person is self-aware enough to make it happen (see how he is now also taking over and ruining the thread about the hospital), so I will move on…
With as liberal the WSR seems to be with censorship of comments, I’m constantly amazed at how many troll posts get through.
Woody…”widen the scope of a discussion”!?!?
Those are two phrases I never thought possible together.
Woody, you must know that right now, right in this thread, you are just repeating yourself over and over. And even that is just a repitition of Jauan and Jay.
Widen…Woody. Sheeeeech.
That is one of only two posts that I made in this thread. The other had to do with where the victim got drunk. You call that repeating myself over and over?
Maybe the compiler you use to download and manage the WSR database of comments needs a software update. Or maybe it’s just suffering from fatigue since you’ve been obsessively searching WSR articles for quotable comments to support your complaining the past few days.
When you point out the common opinion held by Juan, Jay, and myself, do you also remember that you’ve cited the names of other people whose comments you parse to support your thoughts?
Except that this isn’t the first incident of a pedestrian getting dragged under a truck.
Here’s one from 1981
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/09/nyregion/tractor-trailer-kills-2-children-in-the-village.html
1981?
Both are tragedies, but twice in nearly 40 years is not an epidemic.
I think the gist of this is that the accident would have happened anyway if the truck was 50 feet long.
Alternately the accident probably would not have happened if the pedestrian was not drunk.
In addition to the witnesses, there are plenty of video cameras in that area, the accident investigation unit should be able to wrap this up pretty quickly.
We live in a big crowded city, let’s all be careful out there.
I’m more worried about getting hit by a delivery guy on one of those heavy electric bicycles than I am about getting hit by a truck.
Stay sober when crossing the street.
Those electric bikes have caused no deaths and almost no injuries, or at least not many severe enough to warrant coverage.
I find myself way more scared of cars running red lights and trucks, which have demonstrably maimed and killed hundreds every year on NYC streets.
Two days ago there was a humongous car carrier, filled with cars, like the ones you would see on the highway, driving on West End Avenue!!
YES ! Unfortunately It’s a bad corner…
And Yes ! Unfortunately we have a bad leader of this country… But we all must be aware of your surroundings…
Sadly, the one entity who should have been investigated for a possible crime was the establishment who continued to serve him. In talking to the those who witnessed the incident, all agree that the guy was drunk and unable to walk, as he stumbled his way down the sidewalk. How can someone be allowed to leave a bar like that?
Bartenders/servers also have a responsibility. To ensure a patron’s safety.
It has been assumed that he got drunk at a bar but that might not be the case.
Maybe if Captain Malin actually enforced the law against 53 ft tractor trailers on Amsterdam Ave once in a while, this might not have happened! And many other deaths over the decades.
They do a great job hunting down e-bikes though! Despite that there’s yet to be a recorded death caused by an e-bike in the history of NYC.
I still don’t understand why you say that. If you step out in the middle of the street just as a car goes by, trip, fall on the ground and get pulled under a passing car, would you not get a serious head injury ?
Extra-long trucks are kept off city streets for a reason. Just yesterday, two of these trucks completely blocked the crosswalk and forced pedestrians into the middle of the intersection with moving cars.
The truck driver made a reckless decision to exercise his privilege to drive on a street where it is illegal. Something beyond a ticket is called for.
And when will the NYPD do a sting at the bridges and tunnels to stop these oversized trucks from entering our city’s streets? These trucks are labeled with a big “53” on them; surely eager to spot. Its leadership is once again demonstrating incompetence.
What about the fact that the pedestrian was intoxicated. He could have been hit by a “legal” vehicle and fatally wounded
“I apologize to the rest of the readers of this site for diverting the usually intelligent conversation into this back and forth.”
What HYPOCRISY Juan. After you write numerous comments about how another commenter annoys you, which I have never done being more interested in the topic instead, and you justify your bad behavior with “I am hoping that by taking this small step, I can prevent some people from repeatedly diverting the conversation.” It is you who write all these comments having nothing to do with the article.
I enjoy the WSR and the comments. I am sorry that you are short on factual information with which to join the discussion.
“the pedestrian was intoxicated and did not have the light” — note how the NYPD has never and will never offer a single scrap of objective, confirmable evidence to support any of their claims that an accident victim didn’t have the light. They never seem to go on tangible evidence like camera footage – it’s only ever the word of the driver or some other highly questionable witness.
And you just know they would never have given this guy a ticket for driving illegally in the city had people not pointed this out in online comments etc. I doubt whether the average cop even knows about this law, they are so clueless. They certainly never, ever enforce it in the course of their daily patrols.
You guys give Danny Boy to much attention. Most UWsiders have learned to ignore his comments, as they are pointless.
Still have that “Mayor Delusion” huh?
And as Mayor you continue to speak for most UWSiders because, hey you won the majority in your election!
Other than repeating this comment on various WSR articles, are you EVER planning on actually contributing the the discussion about the articles?
Otherwise, I think you have some pointless effort going on.