Woman Hit By Bicyclist In Midtown Dies Weeks Later, Family Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a cyclist in Midtown Manhattan while crossing the street died of her injuries nearly two weeks after the collision, her family said in a statement.

Donna Sturm, a 67-year-old Brooklyn resident, was hit by a cyclist on April 24 while crossing East 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, police said. Sturm died of her injuries on Sunday, her family said in a statement released through her lawyer Ben Rubinowitz.

"Donna Sturm was a vibrant, energetic and wonderful woman who died as a result of carelessness and negligence. She died because a bicyclist completely disregarded the law. She was crossing a street, in the crosswalk, with the light in her favor when she was struck. Unfortunately, she suffered horrific head injuries and, although the doctors tried their best over the last week, they were unable to save her life," the family's statement reads.

Sturm is survived by her husband and daughter, the statement reads.

The cyclist who hit Sturm stayed on the scene of the collision and was given a summons for running a red light, police said. An NYPD spokesman did not return a message when asked if new charges would be considered in light of Sturm's death.

Sturm's death is the first time a pedestrian has been killed by a cyclist since the2017 death of a man on the Lower East Side. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance declined to prosecute the cyclist in 2017, the Bowery Boogie reported.

Sixty-five people have died in traffic collisions this year in New York City, according to NYPD statistics. The number represents an increase of 30 percent compared to this time last year. In 2018, 203 people died in traffic collisions. Of those 203, 115 were pedestrians, 10 were cyclists and 78 were car occupants.