'He Did Not Deserve To Die:' GoFundMe For Slain Delivery Worker

SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS — Noe Amador Licona, a New York City-based delivery worker and father-of-one, was in the middle of a delivery shift in Sunnyside when he was killed by a driver last Thursday.

Licona was heading down 43 Street near Skillman Avenue on the evening of Sept.10, when a driver made a U-turn in the middle of the block, according to police reports and a fundraiser set up by Licona's cousin, Jairo B. Amador Tolentino.

Licona hit his motorcycle brakes to try and avoid crashing into the car, but the force caused him to catapult off his bike and smash into the driver’s sedan. Police — who haven’t identified him by name — found Licona lying in the road unconscious, and took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 66-year-old driver stayed at the scene at the time of the crash, but as of Sept. 11 no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.

'He did not deserve to die this way'

Tolentino describes his cousin as a hard worker, who migrated from Tulancingo de Bravo, Hildalgo, Mexico to Astoria in 2016 “in search of a better life” for his wife and six-year-old son.

In the midst of the pandemic, Licona worked 12-hour shifts on a daily basis, delivering food to Queens residents.

“He did not deserve to die this way,” Tolentino writes, adding that his cousin “dreamed of being able to see his son again” but “sadly won’t be able to see his family again.”

The fundraiser, which has gathered nearly $1,500 as of Monday, aims to raise $20,000 for funeral expenses and money to support Licona’s wife and son — an amount that Tolentino alone cannot raise, as he is also a delivery worker.

“Unfortunately, we don’t make enough money doing this work and we are hoping to count with the support of the community to be able to cover all funeral costs and be able to provide some financial support to his family,” writes Tolentino.

The plight of the city's delivery workers

Licona’s death is not the first instance when an essential worker was killed by a driver in Astoria.

Alfredo Cabrera Licona was killed by a reckless truck driver in the Crescent Street bike lane last November, and Xing Long Lin was killed in April by a reckless driver who still has not faced any charges.

"Our neighborhood, and this entire city, needs appropriate infrastructure to prevent cars from entering bike lanes. Paint will not save people, proper protection will," wrote Queens State Assembly Member Zohran K. Mamdani at the time of Lin’s death earlier this year.

And it's not just street safety that delivery workers have to watch out for; these essential workers, who work tireless hours as contractors and are often undocumented immigrants, have few protections against theft, weather and wages — a plight chronicled in a recent New York Magazine piece.

Workers' exploitation was on full display during Hurricane Ida, when many travelled through deadly flood conditions to deliver food, often without as much as a tip or thank you, as THE CITY reported.

Calls for street safety after a deadly weekend in NYC

Mamdani is not alone in his calls for better pedestrian and bike infrastructure in the wake of peoples’ deaths at the hands of drivers.

Just last weekend six people died in crashes across New York City, including a 3-month-old baby in Brooklyn who was killed by a driver with over 160 traffic violations.

These recent fatal crashes, which bring the total number of people in NYC killed by drivers in 2021 to 188, prompted outrage from street safety activists, including Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director.

"From babies to teachers to police officers, no one is immune to the dangers of a city that continues to prioritize the convenience of drivers over saving human lives," Harris said in a statement in response to this weekend's deadly crashes.

He called on the mayor, and the next administration, to implement pedestrian-first street redesign projects and remove reckless drivers from the streets in order to prevent further deaths.

"New Yorkers don't need any more statements, empty promises or go-nowhere task forces — we need immediate action to save lives," he said.

You can donate to the "Funeral Fund for Noe — Queens Delivery Worker" here.