A 33-year-old e-bike rider was fighting for his life Wednesday after a hit-and-run driver slammed into him on a busy Brooklyn thoroughfare and fled, police said.
The crash unfolded around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the bustling intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Crown Heights, authorities said. The cyclist, 33, was traveling south in the right lane when a white 2026 Hyundai Elantra struck him from behind, according to police.
The Elantra had been cruising in the center lane before the driver began merging right, directly into the cyclist’s path, authorities said. The impact sent the rider flying onto the pavement, where he sustained severe head trauma, cops said.
Emergency responders rushed him to Kings County Hospital Center. He remained in critical condition Wednesday, police said.
The Hyundai driver never stopped. After the collision, the motorist continued south on Nostrand Avenue and had not been located by Wednesday, authorities said.
The wreck marks the latest in a string of violent crashes involving e-bike riders across New York City this fall. On Oct. 7, a 50-year-old man died after a pickup truck struck him in the Bronx, according to police and sources. That rider had been heading west on East 145th Street when the truck, traveling south on Brook Avenue in Mott Haven, hit him around 8:25 a.m., authorities and law enforcement sources said. The 55-year-old truck driver remained at the scene and was not charged, police said.
Less than two weeks earlier, a delivery woman was killed in Manhattan when a dump truck collided with her rental e-bike and the driver sped away. The 50-year-old cyclist was making a delivery on a JOCO rental e-bike the morning of Sept. 28 as both she and the truck traveled west on West 34th Street near Seventh Avenue in Herald Square, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Crown Heights crash has intensified scrutiny of e-bike safety and hit-and-run enforcement in a city where delivery workers and commuters increasingly rely on electric bicycles. The intersection where Tuesday’s collision occurred sits at the heart of a major commercial corridor, with heavy vehicle and foot traffic throughout the evening hours.
Police have released no description of the Elantra driver and have not announced any leads in the ongoing search. The investigation remained active Wednesday, authorities said.
The Sept. 28 Herald Square killing also remains unsolved, with the dump truck driver still at large more than a month later, according to cops and an advocacy group.
The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is handling the Crown Heights case and has asked anyone with information to come forward.