Brooklyn Bike Horror
 

that's the headline the Daily News gave it, and it's appropriate enough:

B'klyn bike horror

Woman, 28, killed by truck

By NANCY DILLON
and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Jose Cruz, driver of ice cream truck that ran over and killed bicyclist, a lawyer.

Body of Elizabeth Padilla is covered at Park Slope intersection after cyclist fell while riding between trucks and was crushed.
A bicyclist who tried to squeeze between two trucks on a bustling Brooklyn street was crushed to death yesterday after she fell underneath one of the rigs, police said.
As Elizabeth Padilla, a 28-year-old lawyer, attempted to pass a 10-wheel Edy's Ice Cream truck, the driver of another truck parked on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope opened his door, witnesses said.

Padilla swerved to avoid the door but hit the side of the moving ice cream truck, causing her to topple under the vehicle's large rear wheels, police said.

She was killed instantly, just six blocks from her apartment.

"She's just the most wonderful, caring individual I've ever met," her husband's stunned uncle said last night outside her Berkeley Place apartment.

The uncle, who declined to give his name, said Padilla was a graduate of Cornell Law School and worked as an attorney for a nonprofit group.

She ran in marathons and rode her bike often, he said.

"She was a guide for a blind man in a bike race," he said. "That says it all. That's the type of person she was."

Padilla's shoes were torn from her feet during the 9 a.m. collision and remained clipped into the pedals of her high-end aluminum bike hours after the wreck.

Witness George Zampetis, 51, and another pedestrian chased down the ice cream truck and stopped it two blocks away, telling the driver, "You just killed a woman," he said.

"He didn't realize he hit her," said Juan Santiago, 48, a construction worker. "He was totally shocked."

The ice cream truck driver, Jose Cruz, sat with his head in his hands near the driver of the P.C. Richard & Son truck who opened his door. Cops did not give a summons to either driver.

"It was an accident," said Ioseb Peikrishuili, who was behind the wheel of the P.C. Richard truck. "I didn't see her."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-271656c.html

What's shocking is how the news story is totally biased against the bike rider.

And that the driver that doored the cyclists was not charged.

Bike horror indeed, it was TRUCK HORROR.

Its a shame it happened. However, given the original statement posted, I fail to see how the truck drive opening the door could be blamed. Sounds like she was trying to fit herself into to small of an area. If she had passed the moving truck on the left and not the right, it would not have happened. If she did not have room on the right to miss the opening door without swerving left, than she did not have enough room to be there. Ride far enough left of parked vehicles that if they open the door, you don't have to adjust your line.

I agree. It sounds like she was (tragically) at fault. However I'm skeptical that the way it was described is how it really happens. It's possible that in fact the ice cream truck was squeezing her by passing her on the left. Don't know if this is what really happened, but it's certainly possible, and that kind of @#()$ happens all the time to me :(

Agreed, I would never put myself in such a situation, and if I did I would go slow enough to stop quickly if a door did open.

But the news coverage was shamefuly biased.

isn't it the law that a vehicle opening a door should check before opening it that its not interfering with traffic?

The cyclist could have been riding more defensively, but at the end of the day, the doorer is at fault.

We need a clarification on which direction the truck that hit her was coming. That's a one-lane-each-way road where cars and delivery trucks often doublepark; sounds to me like the PC Richards truck was making a delivery, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover that it was doubleparked, so when she passed it she was at the far left edge of her lane, right alongside oncoming traffic. When the door was opened, then, she would have possibly swerved / fallen into oncoming traffic, under the rear wheels of the truck going the opposite way... which would be supported by the photos placing her directly in the center of the road, and which would also explain how she was hit by the back wheels only.

I'm not certain the above is accurate, but it certainly would fit with the layout of 5th Avenue at that intersection and with the available evidence... All I'm saying is: it's far too early to start blaming the cyclist, based on the little we know! She was almost certainly too close to the PC Richards truck, true - but it's also quite possible that she was in exactly the only place she could be physically, and exactly where she *ought* to have been legally. If so, the PC Richards driver (if he was double-parked, as I suspect) should be cited for reckless endangerment at the very least.

It seems like she put herself in a situation where being doored would easily have tragic consequences. But the truck driver caused it by opening the door w/o looking. I've had that happen a lot and certainly try to give a good loud "YO" if I see a truck with a driver stopped and about to open the door.

Without speculating about fault, I'll say for those who are some distance away from Brooklyn & may not have a feel for the lay of the land, that 5th Avenue in Brooklyn is a two-lane, two-way avenue. In the section where this woman was killed, it runs through a mixed commercial area, with lots of delivery trucks and passenger cars making sudden, surprising and frequently illegal decisions about where they move, place and manuver their vehicles. It also happens to be a recommended bike route and if fact just a few blocks from where this happened has a well marked bike lane.
It's a popular route for both commuters and roadies going to the park to ride loops, and it can be very congested at nearly any hour. (My own scariest personal experience there- I was headed southbound, in the bike lane, commuting home after midnight one night, well lit and reflected, when a northbound private carting truck swerved out of his lane across the southbound lane and through the bike lane, finally coming to a halt about two feet from where I'd skidded to a halt. Gotta pick up that trash!)
It's a tough route. She was an experienced cyclist. There was no malice involved. This was probably, sadly, just another stupid, preventable, million-to-one accident where everyone and no one is to blame.

OK...we have 2 fatalities being co-mingled here....

I agree that the person who opened the door was at fault and should be charged with reckless endangerment. There are too many accidents involving doors. Many people who don't ride bikes don't even realize that it's a problem. The city should educate with public service announcements, like ones about saving water & electricity, and having safe sex, that are on subways and buses, bus stops etc. Taxis should have a sticker about it. It is crazy and easy to blame the cyclist. People need to know to look and make sure it is clear before they open their door.

Just remember, every time a biker gets killed by a car or truck, an oil executive gets his wings!

The impression I had from the Newsday story is that she tried to stop to avoid the door but couldn't unclip,. and fell beneath the rear wheels of the tractor trailer ice cream truck.

Cyclist error or not, this is a residential neighborhood, plenty of pedestrians, kids going to school, etc., why do we allow tractor trailer trucks to travel on streets like this?

It's Brooklyn. The truck that ran over her was not a tractor-trailer according to the story. The truck that opened it's door was a tractor-trailer. If there are stores nearby, they need their deliveries.

Based on the information given, it would seem like rider error.

Of course stores need their deliveries, and the truck driver had a right to open his door, but the truck driver should have checked to see that it was safe for him to do so first.

I agree with this compeletely.

Thats true. Maybe he checked his mirror and was to high up to see her. We don't have those kinds of details. But one thing is for sure. I NEVER ride in a possition on the road where a door could hit me. If a guy jumped out of a truck in front of me, I would T-bone him before swerving out in the road. We all ride. We all know the dangers. If you are smart, you minimize the dangers as best you can. People open doors. People do all kinds of dumb stuff. If you are aware of that, then half the battle is won.

I agree, but most drivers expect bicyclists to ride as far to the right as possible. I mysel stay out in the road to avoid car doors, but this often annoys motorists and some of them even get aggressive. And to make it worse, many cars today, particulary suvs, have longer doors and tinted windows so it even more dangerous.

since there's a brooklyn cm tonight, I of couse have to work late, but anyone local who's interested in goint down to the intersection, CM's going by there around8. which with critical mass being the way it its, means they'll get there shortly after 8:30, if they don't all get arrested.

I was there to see the body that morning, just stopped at gorilla for my morning shot of espresso only to hear the commotion. I thought to myself "I'd bet anyone a million dollars that's a bike accident up the block". As I walk over, sure enough there's the body laying there. I didn't find out until that evening that it was a woman that got hit, as I couldn't tell becuase their head was so badly crushed.
My thoughts and well wishes go out to the family. A very sad day. Just last month I lost a friend who was killed on Houston and Ave A while coming home to bklyn from work, now this.
I ride 5th Ave everyday, and it's been getting more and more crowded with cars and trucks than ever before. 2 months ago I was hit and went thru the windshield of a car that made an illegal u-turn in front of me. This was on 5th and Garfield as I was heading home in the evening traveling southbound in the bike lane. The driver ended up getting arrested but only because he happenend to have warrants out on him. Now he's upstate serving his time.
I'm a former messenger of 4 years, I still race the alleycats, and I still race mountain bikes, and I consider myself a very experienced cyclist, and I'm very comfortable in traffic. What's my point?
My point is is that no matter who's at fault for anything, the drivers or cyclists, it's up to us the cyclists to survive the streets. Sure the driver that hit me was legally at fault but I like to think of it as being my fault for not anticipating his move. It's a war out there and the only ones that'll be hurt is us so ride as aggressive as you can but think DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE.

First of all, yes, this is Brooklyn. But a part of Brooklyn where 10 wheelers do not belong. It is very residential and, as others mentioned, this is a popular and official "bike" route for a lot of riders.

Second, I think the reporting, as well as some comments here, is really biased against the cyclist.

There are many ways to read this story; one fact that I think has been overlooked is that the ice cream truck was moving when she avoided getting doored by a parked truck: "Padilla swerved to avoid the door but hit the side of the moving ice cream truck, causing her to topple under the vehicle's large rear wheels, police said."

If the ice cream truck was moving, as indicated in this story, I don't see how she did anything reckless.
The way I see it, this is a classic case of dooring. She stopped short of hitting the door of the legally* parked truck (*see pics...), could not unclip in time and fell under the wheels of the ice cream truck.

What a horrible way to die.

She was riding with moving traffic. There is no indication that she was riding too fast (the fact that she did not hit the door indicates so), and I don't see why she should have passed to the right of the moving ice cream truck.... If you look at the photos and imagine a 10 wheeler, that would have meant riding on the other side of the double yellow line...

Bottom line, if ANYONE is at fault here, it is the person that opened the door.
That was reckless, and deserves punishment.

I ride on that spot everyday and as I read all the reports and look at the photos, I am convinced that Elizabeth Padilla was sadly and tragically killed in a one in a million situation. Not sure we can really blame anyone here, but I certainly feel that she was not reckless or careless... She was not trying to "squeeze" in, she was riding in the crowded streets of Brooklyn. A ten wheeler belongs there less than she did. She, like all of of us, deserved a safe place to ride her bike.

O.

good thoughts and comments all the way through, I just wanted to respond to this in particular...

ironically, I've recently added 5th Ave from Dean to 3rd to the park as part of my commute because it seems safer than Flatbush to GAP to the park, which is what I'd done before.

Actually, I ride 5th avenue all the way everyday and since school is out, it's been less congested and dangerous than before. Aside from trucks, the next most dangerous thing would be those damn parents in minivans and suv's.

There are some pics of the memorial during Brooklyn Critical Mass here.

The community support was amazing, brought a tear to my eye.

Edit: The pictures have been moved here.