Sunday bicycle ride in Williamsburg turns fatal

September 3, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

WILLIAMSBURG — A 46-YEAR-OLD BICYCLIST WAS STRUCK AND KILLED around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1, when the 40-year-old driver of a Volkswagen Tiguan SUV hit him on Union Avenue near Lynch St. in Williamsburg, within the 90th Precinct, according to an NYPD report and the New York Post. The driver then crashed into an unoccupied white Honda Odyssey that was parked at the curb of an intersection with a BP gas station, according to video supplied to the Post. The cyclist, whom the NYPD has since identified as Luis Mendez of Bedford-Stuyvesant, was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. The Volkswagen’s driver, Cam Noen of Greene Avenue, was arrested roughly two hours after the collisions, and charged with driving without a license as well as Vehicular Manslaughter 2nd Degree, Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs, Failure to Obey Traffic Device, and Driving While Ability Impaired.

Police are investigating the incident, which marks the 17th cycling fatality citywide as of August, according to Crash Mapper. Six of those fatalities were in Brooklyn. Noting that “More cyclists died in NYC last year than 25 years,” City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents parts of Williamsburg, tweeted, “We’ll keep pushing for safer streets on every block.”

✰✰✰