Citi Bike Cyclist Injured In Chelsea Collision, Police Say

CHELSEA, NY — A Citi Bike cyclist was critically injured on Sunday after he was hit by a taxi in a Chelsea intersection, police said.

The cyclist, a 23-year-old man, was riding a Citi Bike west on 21st Street while in the bike lane on Sunday at about 11:40 a.m., an NYPD spokesman said. While approaching Ninth Avenue, the cyclist rode through a red light and was hit by a taxi going south on Ninth, according to the police account. The cyclist was transported to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, the spokesman said.

The taxi driver, a 22-year-old male, has not been arrested and no criminal action is currently suspected, according to the spokesman.

The city's transportation department has said it is "actively developing" proposals for crosstown bike routes after a number of cycling crashes in the Chelsea neighborhood. There is already a designated bike lane on 21st Street, where Sunday's collision happened, but transportation activists have been calling for additional protected bike routes after a number of serious injuries and fatalities in the neighborhood this year. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Image credit: Kathleen Culliton / Patch