By Gus Saltonstall
A cyclist died Monday morning after colliding with a dog in Central Park, a police spokesperson told West Side Rag.
The 71-year-old cyclist was riding around 8:15 a.m. on East Drive near 84th Street, when he collided with an off-leash dog that ran onto the roadway, police said.
The biker was thrown to the cement and sustained head and chest injuries, police said. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, NYPD added.
The dog owner stayed on scene, and the animal was not injured, police said.
Central Park has off-leash hours daily from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., but dogs are not allowed on the drives.
The identity of the victim has not been released pending proper notification of the family.
Last week, Richie O’Brien died after being struck by a bike on September 23 at almost the exact location on East Drive near 84th Street, as he was walking to work.
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If people cannot behave responsibly and train/control their dogs then the off-leash policy needs to go. Not that they will pay any attention to that or it will actually be enforced. The owner of this dog should be arrested for manslaughter at the very least.
Allowed or not, dogs off-leash make no sense, either for the dog or pedestrians.
This is sad. I love dogs and I’m in favor of off-leash time, but you still must control the dog and keep it nearby. It doesn’t mean that your dog has the run of the full park like a wild dingo.
Although this tragedy was caused by a reckless dog owner I don’t think we should let the opportunity slip by to make irrelevant comments about e-bikes, cyclists rolling through yellow lights and so on. As with the pedestrian walking into the bike lane in the dark last week we need to keep focused on blaming cyclists.