Cyclist Fatally Struck By Tractor Trailer Outside Prospect Park: NYPD

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A 25-year-old woman was killed when a truck driver ran over her outside Prospect Park Wednesday morning, according to police.

The woman was cycling east on Parkside Avenue near Parade Place just before 7:30 a.m. when she fell off her bike and onto the street, according to preliminary information from the Crash Investigation Squad and a witness who spoke to the Daily News.

The 25-year-old was hit by the truck, suffered severe head and body injuries and died before she could be taken to the hospital, police said.

The driver of the tractor-trailer truck remained at the scene, said police.

Police claimed they were still investigating if the truck was larger than the city's 55-foot limit.

Illegally-sized trucks on New York City streets have long caused safety issues for pedestrians, bikers and other vehicles, and are often well-documented by eagle-eyed safe-streets advocates on Twitter.

Officials also said that they could not yet determine why the large tractor-trailer truck was driving on a road that was not a designated truck route, according to a 2021 DOT map, adding that all information released so far was preliminary.

According to the Daily News, a witness on the scene claimed to watch the woman fall off her bike as she tried to avoid a protruding side mirror from a parked pickup truck.

The witness then saw the woman get run over by the truck, adding that the driver "had no remorse," after confronting him, according to the Daily News

Pictures from social media show the police response and the woman's bicycle with mangled handlebars.

Local Twitter users responded with anger over driving habits on the busy intersection near a public park.

"I live right near here," said one. "Drivers run that red light all the time, it's ridiculous - so hard to cross there."

"It’s wild," Sarah Clyne Sundberg added. "Literally I regularly see drivers stop, then gun it across the crosswalk against a red light."

Last summer, another bicyclist, Upper East Sider Carling Mott, 28, was killed by a truck driver who was also traveling on a non-truck route.

Police initially made false claims that Mott had been traveling the wrong way down the street, but later revised their statement to say the victim had been waiting for a red light on East 85th street.

The street lacked a safe bike lane, thanks to a years-ago outcry from white-stocking residents, including Woody Allen, who spoke out against the city's 2016 plans to install crosstown bike lanes in the notoriously congested neighborhood..

The uptown community board now claims be moving towards installing a bike lane in the wake of the tragic death.