School Bus Hits, Kills Elderly Woman On Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A woman in her eighties was fatally struck by a school bus driver as she crossed an Upper East Side street on Monday, police said.

The crash happened around 3:43 p.m. Monday, as the 81-year-old woman was crossing 72nd Street at Third Avenue. As she walked between the northeast and southeast corners, a 57-year-old man driving a yellow school bus made a right turn onto 72nd Street from Third Avenue.

The driver struck the woman in the crosswalk. Police identified her as Elizabeth Hyman, a resident of Rego Park, Queens.

Hyman was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The bus driver remained at the scene and has not been charged, though state law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.

The crash remains under investigation by the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad.

Since 2011, there have been at least 32 crashes at the same intersection, according to city data. Forty-one people have been injured — including 16 pedestrians, 20 drivers and five cyclists. One pedestrian was killed, not including Hyman.

Traffic deaths have surged this year with more vehicles on New York City's streets, reaching their highest level in almost a decade.