New Yorker On A Mission To Help Delivery Worker Caught On Video Wading Through Floodwater During Ida
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Despite downpours during Ida, delivery workers waded through waist-high water making deliveries.
One man witnessed a struggling bike rider and is on a mission to help him.
As rain came pouring down Wednesday night, a man could be seen in Williamsburg, wading through waist-deep water with his bike, holding a plastic bag.
The moment was captured on video by East Village resident Johnny Miller.
"I was just depressed," he told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis. "A lot of people were focusing on the weather, and I wanted to focus on sort of that human element."
That's not unique for Miller, as a photographer who documents inequality.
In this case, he was just leaving the gym and saw what he believes was a struggling delivery worker. He posted the video to Twitter.
"I thought maybe that would strike a nerve with people, but I didn't think it was gonna be 11 million views," he said.
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The video was captured after 10 p.m. at the intersection of Roebling Street and North 11th Street.
The challenge is finding the man in the video.
From distributing flyers to biking around the city himself, Miller is determined to find him.
"Maybe someone will recognize his face," he said.
Miller also wants to give the $1,700 he's made off the video to the worker.
"Maybe as some small apology from New Yorkers who ordered food during that storm," he said.
Los Deliveristas Unidos, the group that advocates for delivery workers, points out he was among many braving the storm.
"They were like, what option do I have? I have to feed my family," said Hildalyn Colon, director of policy and strategic partnerships for Los Deliveristas Unidos.
Victor Guzman-Rodriguez shared his experience through a translator.
"It was very dangerous because water kind of, like, was close to half of my body," he said.
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Miller hopes to yield change for workers.
"There's so much attention on him now, I think he could really be a symbol for good," he said.
To start, this one will get a big tip.
CBS2 reached out to several app-based delivery companies, including Grubhub and DoorDash. Both paused operations in certain locations during the storm.
Grubhub released the following statement:
"The safety of delivery workers is a top priority. While we always appreciate the hard work drivers put in to get the job done, no delivery worker for any company or restaurant should ever take an action that would jeopardize their safety."
DoorDash released the following statement:
"This week's flooding in New York and the surrounding regions was tragic. Although we were able to pause delivery in some parts of the city as the flash flooding occurred, we should have acted more quickly and comprehensively to suspend ordering, turn off incentives to get Dashers on the roads, and communicate with all of our stakeholders. We are actively engaging our community and putting in place controls to do better going forward."
Neither claimed the man in the video delivered for them.
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