Person Hit By Driver In Astoria Is 'Hurt But Alive,' Police Say

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Blood flowed through an Astoria street on Monday morning, after a person was hit by a driver, according to police and on-the-ground sources.

At around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, a driver behind the wheel of a car hit someone near the corner of 31 Street and Newtown Avenue in Astoria, police said.

The driver was behind the wheel of an SUV when they hit the person and then fled the scene, according to police scanner reports uploaded on Citizen shortly after the accident.

Videos, also posted on Citizen, show blood flowing through the street, as half-a-dozen first responders load the person into an ambulance after they were hit.

An NYPD spokesperson told Patch that the person — who police preliminarily identified as a pedestrian, although Citizen reports indicate they were on a bike — has “some injuries, but is not likely” to die.

The NYPD are on the lookout for a driver who was behind the wheel of a black Dodge Challenger at the time of the accident, according to police conversations reported on Citizen.

These reports indicate that the car’s license plate number is associated with four violations in Aug. 2021, three of which are school zone speeding violations, according to How’s My Driving; though it's unclear who was driving at the time of those violations, since tickets are connected with the plate, not a driver.

News of this hit-and-run comes after a particularly deadly past few days for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists in New York City.

This weekend a driver with over 160 traffic violations killed a 3-month-old baby in Brooklyn, and a motorcyclist died in Queens after crashing into a driver who made a mid-block U-turn — two of six fatal accidents in the city since Friday.

“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,” said Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director, in a statement in response to this weekend’s deadly crashes.

Harris pointed out that these crashes, which bring the total number of people in NYC killed by drivers in 2021 to 188, solidify this year as the deadliest under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

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.