Mom Wants Answers After Cyclist Killed Near Prospect Park: Report

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — The mother of the young bicyclist killed by a tractor-trailer driver traveling on a non-designated truck route is demanding a thorough investigation into her young daughter's death, according to the Daily News.

That stretch of Parkside Avenue, a road not designated as a truck route, has been the site of nearly 200 crashes since 2012, according to Transportation department data.

"What was that truck doing on that road?" the weeping mother, Leeana Alois, 44, asked the Daily News.

Kala Santiago, 25, was killed on Wednesday morning by the driver of a 2013 Peterbilt tractor-trailer truck on Parkside Avenue near Parade Place about 7 a.m., according to police.

Police initially said Santiago had fallen off her bike prior to any interaction with the truck, but subsequent statements from the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad omit any mention of this, now stating that a "collision" occurred.

As of Thursday morning, police had no other updates in the investigation, including if the truck was over the city's legal limit for truck length or why the truck was not traveling on a truck route.

Santiago was heading to work as a barista at a bakery, Alois told the Daily News, and also had plans to attend nursing school.

According to a GoFundMe set up by her family, Santiago was mother to two young boys, both under two-years-old.

The youngest, Alios told the Daily News, was just born this past July.

“Her oldest is only 1. He doesn’t understand," Alios told the Daily News. He’s only a baby.”

Alois said Santiago helped her mother after brain surgery left her unable to read or write.

Streetsblog reported that the Prospect Park adjacent length of Parkside Avenue recently had the roadway narrowed and added a protected bike lane last year, but residents told a reporter that trucks still frequent the non-truck route street.

Just blocks away on Canton Avenue and Church Avenue are designated local and through bus routes, according to a DOT map.

According to NYC Crashmapper, a tool that uses data to map crashes, the stretch of Parkside Avenue where the fatal crash occurred — alongside Prospect Park from Ocean to Coney Island Avenue — there has been nearly 200 crashes since September 2012, resulting in 266 injuries.

More specifically, the intersection of Parkside Avenue and Parade Place has seen 55 total crashes over the past decade with 66 injuries reported.

Santiago's death, according to the data, would be the first on this section of Parkside Avenue.

Transportation data show 191 people have been killed in crashes citywide this year so far, including 14 cyclists.

According to a Twitter user, police were seen ticketing trucks illegally traveling on Parkside Avenue.