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Cyclist Hit By Cab Driver on 110th Likely to Be in Wheelchair for a Year, Dad Says

December 5, 2019 | 3:45 PM - Updated on June 5, 2022 | 11:29 PM
in CRIME, NEWS
16

A cab driver hit a bicyclist who was stopped at a light at 110th and Manhattan Avenue around 12:50 a.m. on Monday, and the cyclist was severely injured, according to a report in the Daily News.

Police say the driver left the scene and only stopped because his passenger begged him to stop and because he was cut off by another cab.

The victim, Elliot Betances, went through nine hours of surgery at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital to repair his broken pelvis,

“His pelvis is broken in about six different places. The car ran over his pelvis and destroyed it. He’s going to be in a wheelchair for six to 12 months before we can even start rehab,” Betances’ father said. “It’s going to take major rehabilitation before he can have a normal life.”

Driver Karamjit Singh was charged with with leaving the scene of an accident without reporting serious physical injury and assault and his hack license was suspended by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, according to the Daily News.

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Mark
Mark
3 years ago

Sorry to hear this. Wishing him well and a full recovery.

No doubt the cycling-hater contingent here will say the cyclist was at fault and that he deserved it.

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Paul
Paul
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark

If the rider was stopped and at the intersection then the cabbie was beyond negligent and needs to be criminally charged.

And, under these circumstances it’s almost completely irrelevant that the victim was a bike rider. If a pedestrian had been in that space he’d have been hit as well.

This is a story about a horrible cab driver who needs jail time. Period.

Bad drivers are the enemy of us all.

(and, as usual, it’s a “professional” driver in our neighborhood, not an evil UWS car owner, causing the carnage).

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Reply
UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Not me. But it is very dangerous if you decide to go on a bike on new york city streets. We are all familiar with drivers who speed, run red lights, and distracted drivers with their phones, and you’re gambling with your life more than if you would take the subway/bus/uber. Maybe stick to bikes in the parks in the designated areas. Some of us wish that we can make the Upper West Side into a sleepy town where biking is no safety issue, but it ain’t reality.

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lcnyc
lcnyc
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

Love how you start off by saying “not me,” then go on to blame the victim. The WSR crowd never disappoints.

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Reply
UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
3 years ago
Reply to  lcnyc

Why don’t any of you understand that a cyclist has no chance of coming out unscathed when hit by a metal object weighing thousands of pounds. Does not matter if the fault is entirely the driver of the car, you’re on a BICYCLE. We all live in a city that revolves around CARS and BUSES and TRUCKS. Bicycles were around and popular decades before the car was invented. Lots of things in life are not fair, just add the dangers of riding a bicycle on New York City streets to the list. I’m not “blaming” the cyclist, but it’s silly to ignore the fact of the inherent danger of choosing to do that. Just like it’s silly to ignore other dangers, like if you smoke cigarettes, you increase your risk for heart disease and lung cancer. If you’re very overweight, you increase your risk for diabetes, etc. Smoking relieves stress, eating rich food is pleasurable, and you’re free to light up and eat as much as you like, but you’re raising the risks to your health. I don’t get the outrage.

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Mike
Mike
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

The “outrage” over your comment is due to it being, at best, callous and uninsightful.
On a different note, your evident life philosophy of ‘mitigate all risk’ is sad as well as ironic, given that it makes life hardly worth living at all.

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Roberto
Roberto
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

A comparison between smoking and biking is absurd. Smoking isn’t dangerous because someone else gives you lung cancer when you choose to do it.

If you’re in a hole, and you want to get out, I’d advise not digging deeper.

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Reply
Mike
Mike
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

For all the reality that your comment claims to invoke, it ignores that cycling is an effective, healthy, and cost-effective way of GOING places… and that getting hit while stopped at a light is not something you should be blamed for, no matter the vehicle. Also, that the bike lanes which exist at that point of 110th Street are there expressly because society at large has deemed it useful and necessary to allow cyclists to share the road, and not be limited to riding loops in parks.

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Reply
UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
3 years ago
Reply to  Mike

I realize you’re obsessed with “effective, healthy, and cost-effective way of GOING places”, but that has nothing to do with my point. It’s significantly more dangerous than other options.

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Reply
Sid
Sid
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

It’s actually only unsafe because of cars. Almost all serious injury or death that occurs to people on bicycles is because of a car.

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Reply
Mike
Mike
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

Speaking of obsessive… if the same argument (about relative dangers) was made with respect to people’s religion, would you still find it so persuasive?

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Reply
Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
3 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

… but it SHOULDN’T BE more dangerous than other options, and it is NOT in bike friendly cities. That is a public policy issue. Cycling in NY can and should be safe.

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Ted
Ted
3 years ago

@Mark

I am generally critical of the cycling community when they are deserving of it, which at times they are, but this is a simply horrible event and I wish the injured man nothing but a swift recovery.

Blanket indictments of groups like cyclists, or pedestrian or drivers for that matter, aren’t particularly useful. Behavior is wrought by individuals that should be held accountable.

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kr
kr
3 years ago
Reply to  Ted

This accident is particularly tragic as it seems that the cyclist was obeying traffic signals which is not always the case. I think that visibility of cyclists at night is a major issue. I confront this as both a pedestrian (where I can’t see them coming or going (in all directions in violation of their status as a vehicle) and when I occasionally drive. I would like to see a major push for all cyclists to wear a significant amount of bright neon reflective clothing. This would hopefully offer the cyclists protection from being hit by vehicles, and protection of pedestrians from them.

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Ed
Ed
3 years ago

Any criminal charges?

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Reply
Julie
Julie
3 years ago

Thank God the passenger was in the cab and spoke up. Any taxi driver who hits a cyclist and takes off should not be driving a cab, ever. That kind of mentality shows a lack of respect for life, and law and order.

0
Reply

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