The NYPD is still hunting the hit-and-run driver who killed a cyclist in Brooklyn early Tuesday.
Paulina Tec Choc, 29, of Queens, was stopped at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Cypress Hills Street around 5:50 a.m. When a 2006 Ford F-250 pickup truck slammed into her e-bike from behind, according to police. The impact threw her to the pavement, and the truck then ran over her body before the driver sped away.
Tec Choc suffered severe trauma to her head and body. EMS rushed her to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where she died from her injuries, authorities said. She had not been publicly identified by police until Wednesday.
The motorist fled the scene and remained at large through Wednesday, with no arrests made. The NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is handling the ongoing probe.
Streetsblog NYC reported that Tec Choc was a daily e-bike rider. The outlet identified her as Paulina Pec, a slight variation from the police spelling, and noted she was among the growing number of New Yorkers who rely on electric bicycles for commuting.
The deadly collision came amid a brutal stretch for traffic violence in the city. Just one day earlier, on Monday, a driver careened into a food truck and then a bank at the same Queens intersection where two people had been mowed down the day before, NBC New York reported. That rampage left multiple people injured and added to a grim tally of crashes across the five boroughs.
In the viral moment that preceded this latest killing, Tec Choc’s death underscored the dangers faced by cyclists on unprotected streets. Jamaica Avenue is a major commercial corridor with heavy truck traffic but no dedicated bike infrastructure. Transportation advocates have repeatedly called for protected lanes on such routes, arguing that painted lines offer little defense against large vehicles.
The investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad continues as detectives work to identify and locate the driver of the white Ford F-250.