By Carol Tannenhauser
Charges were upgraded Monday against Brian Boyd, the electric scooter driver who allegedly ran a red light on Amsterdam Avenue on June 4th, striking actress Lisa Banes in the West 64th Street crosswalk, then fled. Banes suffered a traumatic brain injury and died 10 days later.
Boyd, 26, was arrested in August in the lobby of his apartment building, just steps from where the crash occurred, by patrol officers who recognized him from a wanted poster. He was initially charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failure to yield to a pedestrian, but a Manhattan Supreme Court judge upped the charges, indicting Boyd for reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, failure to exercise due care and failure to yield. Those charges carry a minimum penalty of one to three years, and a maximum of 15 years. Boyd pleaded not guilty.
Surveillance tape captured the incident. “After the crash knocked Boyd off his bike, he stood up, picked up his scooter, and walked a few steps to look at Banes, who was lying face down on the asphalt bleeding from the head, prosecutors said, citing surveillance footage from the scene,” the Daily News reported. “Boyd then rode away, leaving Banes wounded in the street, prosecutors said. According to the original criminal complaint, Boyd went straight to a bike shop about 4 miles from the crash scene to tend to his damaged vehicle.”
WSR tried, repeatedly but unsuccessfully, to identify and locate Boyd’s attorney for a statement.
Perhaps best known for her roles in the movies “Gone Girl” and “Cocktail,” Banes, 65, also made many television and theater appearances. She was visiting New York City from Los Angeles when she was killed, and had reportedly stopped off to see her alma mater, Juilliard, at nearby Lincoln Center, before heading to meet friends for dinner.
All these new and unregulated electric vehicles are a grave danger to pedestrians. I have had several near misses on riverside drive with delivery bikes an e scooter and vespas blowing through red lights. These people seem to think the traffic laws do not apply.
These miniaturized and not so miniaturized motorcycles with no mufflers come roaring down Columbus Avenue, the exhaust so loud that speaking with someone next to you is impossible. In their wake, they leave the stench of of smoke and gasoline. They are a danger to public health and safety and there needs to be more effort by NYPD to control this cascading nuisance.
When walking across West End and 93rd St. 2 NYPD officers on motorcycles were stopped at the light on West End when 2 kids on motorbikes road right past them blowing through the light. I looked at them and said you have got to be kidding, you aren’t going after them and there “non cholent” response was we aren’t supposed to. If this is the mantra with the NYPD then this will never change. I understand the chase can sometimes be more dangerous than doing nothing, but it has gotten so out of hand and scary.
“we aren’t supposed to” That is the acme of absurdity. Police officers are supposed to stop and arrest or issue warrants to people who break the law. There are so many ways the law can be broken; do they have to be told each and every possibility ahead of time? That response was just plain stupidity. If their sergeant or their precinct captain said anything that imbecilic, with no repercussion from above, I’d expect the Commissioner to suspend them for dereliction of duty.
You really want a cop to do his/her job when the Commissioners job is just a ceremonial position.
Yes, law enforcement don’t seem to respond to those on motorbikes violating the law. I witnessed the same, a bunch of motorcyclists racing through a red light on 96th and west end Avenue with a cop car waiting at the intersection and no pursuit.
In riverside park no parks Dept. officers patrolling anymore either, motorcycles there as well in the pedestrian only zone- I haven’t seen this ever for the last few decades.
If it has wheels and a motor, it needs a license, registration and insurance. It needs to be subject to the same traffic laws as cars and those need to be enforced. While we’re at it, accountability for regular bikes obeying traffic laws is long overdue, too. Anything else is reckless.
Fedup:
These scooters, e or petrol, (and throttle e-bikes, and yes even bicycles ridden by adults) are mostly subject to same rules of the road as cars/trucks and real motorcycles.
So, no running reds, no driving the wrong way, and lights at night (only for delivery guys).
About the only thing the drivers of these motor scooters are allowed to do (legally) that cars can’t do (legally) is drive in “bike” lanes.
However, for more than 20 years the City really hasn’t enforced the laws requiring powered bike/scooter drivers to obey traffic laws. And then about 10 years ago, there was a revolution in batteries for these things and; that made matters much worse.
Unfortunate, sad, and criminal, but the killing of Ms Banes was hardly unexpected. What’s unusual is that the NYPD has arrested a serious suspect and he’s been criminally charged.
He literally left her to die in the street? There are no words.
These are the ones I have a hard time with. Many killings happen in ways that are unacceptable but involve bad split-second decisions by young people, who are prone to such things. And accidents are going to happen as long as we have motorized traffic. But, as an adult, to walk over to a senior citizen you collided with, see her lying bleeding from the head, and just walk away to get your bike fixed without even calling for help–this is a person who’s never going to be anything but dangerous to his community.
A minimum penalty of 1 to 3 years? Max is 15? How does this society value life so cheaply? Boyd is a hardhearted, callous, and cruel killer who deserves at least 40 years.
The judge increased the charges, because the DA failed to adequately charge. Why are the DAs not doing their jobs?
Sorry but 15 years is not enough. He took a life and showed graved indifference. If he had called for help I would feel differently.
C’mon, you want enforcement? Let your meter expire. Are you ready – 1,2,3,4,5 seconds and there they are.