Cyclists hold memorial ride and die-in in honor of biker killed in Midwood
Hundreds of cyclists rode from Prospect Park to Midwood on Sunday in a commemorative bike ride for Jose Alzorriz, who was killed in a car crash on Aug. 11 while waiting on his bike at a red light on Coney Island Avenue.
Friends, family members, local politicians and street-safety advocates met at Bartel-Pritchard Square at Prospect Park before the ride, chanting, “What do we want? Safe streets. When do we want it? Now.”
Alzorriz, 52 at the time of his death, was killed when 18-year-old Mirza Baig, who was driving a Dodge sedan in the opposite direction, ran through a “steady red light,” according to cops. The Dodge smashed into a blue Honda traveling east on Avenue L, causing the Honda to collide with Alzorriz, as well as a pedestrian. Baig was charged with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter.
Alzorriz was the latest in a string of vehicle-related cyclist deaths in Brooklyn this year — bringing the total number killed citywide in 2019 to 19, almost double the number killed citywide in all of 2018.