'Enough Of The Carnage': Brooklyn Crash Spurs Call For Safer Streets

GREENPOINT, NY — Another crash on a perilous stretch of McGuinness Boulevard has renewed calls for urgent safety enforcements in Brooklyn.

Miguel Diaz Batista, 57, was fleeing a crash near Humboldt Street and Meeker Avenue when he struck and injured a 20-year-old moped rider about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police and advocates.

Batista hit multiple parked cars and left the 20-year-old with a broken leg, according to the NYPD.

The driver arrested Thursday and arraigned Friday on charges of reckless endangerment and leaving the scene, court records show. Batista pleaded not guilty and was released.

Advocates say the driver was speeding.

"We have had enough of the carnage and the danger," advocacy group Make McGuinness Safe said in an Instagram post.

Thursday's dramatic crash marks the seventh just this year on a small stretch of McGuinness Boulevard between Engert Avenue and Richardson Street, according to NYC Crash Mapper.

Over the last decade, 28 people have been injured at just the intersection of Meeker Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard.

"Sadly, this incident was entirely predictable," electeds said in a statement signed by Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Congresswoman Nydia Velàzquez, Assembly Emily Gallagher, Senator Kristin Gonzalez and City Council Member Lincoln Restler.

"This one mile stretch is an epicenter of traffic violence in our community, where we experience an average of one crash resulting in an injury every single week."

Electeds and locals have long called for safety measures on the dangerous stretch of Greenpoint — calls that were intensified when Brooklyn teacher Matthew Jenson was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2021.

Jenson's death prompted then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to announce a $39-million redesign of the corridor.

"The senseless death of Mr. Jensen proves what our North Brooklyn community already knows for more than a decade — McGuinness Boulevard remains one of the most dangerous corridors in Brooklyn and incremental improvements are not working to calm the traffic," advocates said.

Redesign efforts on McGuinness Boulevard have proven controversial — especially after officials face significant pushback from influential opposers, The City reported in July.

Advocates support the plan released this year to add a protected bike lane in each direction, remove a lane of traffic and add neighborhood loading zones for deliveries — but they worry it will not be implemented, according to Make McGuinness Safe.

"We need to show the Mayor's office that Greenpoint is firmly in support of a redesigned McGuinness, where residents, visitors, and workers can walk, bike and drive safely," the group said on its website.