Collisions Between Cyclists, Pedestrians Become Growing Concern In Williamsburg
BROOKLYN (CBSNewYork) -- It happened in a matter of seconds: A school bus pulled right up to the corner of South 5th Street and Hooper Street in Williamsburg; A 6-year-old came running around the front of a bus.
Then, a bicyclist came flying down the street, slamming into the child and sending her straight onto the pavement.
Moments later, police said the cyclist just took off.
"I was inside here but I saw him," said Hangy Falkowitz, mother of the girl who suffered a nose injury, cuts and bruises from the impact with the cyclist. "It's very sad that the bicyclists are so wild and they don't obey the rules or the stop signs and they just pass a stop sign and hit a child."
"This is unheard of," said Williamsburg resident Isaac Abraham to CBS2's Marc Liverman. "You knock off a child, the child was lucky to get up, knowing where to go, ring the bell and lucky somebody was there to open the door for her."
Abraham said he's heard of three collisions where bicyclists slammed into pedestrians, some pushing strollers.
New York City police have issued more than 500 red light summonses to bicyclists in 2018 alone.
But Abraham says it's just not enough. He wants to see more bicycle rule enforcement before someone else is hit.
"If you're going to bike on a steady way, some type of registration responsibility that if, God forbid, you injure somebody that you cannot just walk away from it," he said.
Police haven't released a description of that cyclist, but tell CBS2 he could be charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
