By Bill Parry
City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) is calling on the city Department of Transportation to conduct a full investigation and study on the intersection of 39th Street and 43rd Avenue in Sunnyside where two cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in the last 10 days.
A 27-year-old man was heading eastbound in the vicinity of the bike lane on 43rd Street around 7:30 Tuesday morning when a box truck, making a right turn onto 39th Street struck him, according to an NYPD spokesman. The cyclist, a 23-year-old man from Queens, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
The driver, Francis O’Brien, 61, remained at the scene and was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a bicyclist and failure to exercise due care, the police spokesman said. This is the same intersection where Gelacio Reyes, a 32-year-old married father of three was struck and killed while riding to his home in Corona after working in Manhattan March 2.
Woodside resident Cristian Guiracoch, 25, was arrested hours later. He was charged with driving under the influence, aggravated unlicensed driving and refusal to take a breath test, police said.
Guiracocha was released on $100,000 bail and was due back in court April 14, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
“I am in constant contact with the 108th Precinct and am closely monitoring the condition of the cyclist, who was seriously hurt, but is stable,” Van Bramer said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with this cyclist, and we wish for his speedy recovery. As the facts emerge from this accident, we must closely investigate the causes of this crash. This is not where we need to be when it comes to realizing Vision Zero.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
