Truck Driver's Left Turn Killed Delivery Rider on Morgan Avenue
At 9:32 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2022, on Morgan Avenue, police said a man driving a flatbed truck turned left from Meadow Street and fatally hit Daniel Vidal, a 30-year-old delivery worker.
What We Know
Daniel Vidal, 30, was riding north on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg on the morning of Aug. 4, 2022, when police said a 50-year-old man driving a flatbed truck turned left from Meadow Street and hit him. Paramedics took Vidal to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. amNY reported that Vidal was a delivery worker known locally as Dani, and that friends and fellow delivery workers mourned at the scene. The city crash record lists one person killed, no injuries, a motorbike, and a second vehicle categorized as a Carry All; amNY described the larger vehicle as a flatbed truck or heavy hauler. Police told amNY they did not suspect criminality.
A left turn at Meadow Street preceded the fatal impact
Police told amNY that Daniel Vidal was riding north on a motorcycle or scooter on Morgan Avenue when a man driving a flatbed truck made a left turn from Meadow Street and hit him around 9:30 a.m. The city crash record logged the crash at 9:32 a.m. on Morgan Avenue.
Paramedics took Vidal to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The city record counted one person killed and no injuries.
Daniel Vidal was a delivery worker mourned at the scene
Police identified the victim as Daniel Vidal of Jefferson Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. amNY reported that fellow delivery workers and friends mourned at the scene, and that Gustavo Ajche of Los Deliveristas Unidos said Vidal was known locally as Dani.
Sources describe the larger vehicle differently
amNY, citing police, described the driver as operating a flatbed truck or heavy hauler. The city crash record categorized the other vehicle as a Carry All, normalized as a sedan, with an INTL-TRUCK/BUS make. Both accounts describe the other driver making a left turn while Vidal traveled north on a two-wheeler.
For Vidal's 2021 EX-PRO motorbike, the city record listed northbound travel, straight-ahead movement, center front-end impact and center front-end damage.
The official factor points to lane use, while police reported no suspected crime
The city crash record listed Passing or Lane Usage Improper as the contributing factor and assigned that factor in the motorcycle entry. Police told amNY the 50-year-old operator of the heavy hauler stayed at the scene and that they did not suspect criminality.
Morgan Avenue runs through an industrial East Williamsburg corridor
The crash happened on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg near Meadow Street. amNY described the two-way Morgan Avenue corridor through the industrial neighborhood as having bike lanes that were unprotected from vehicle traffic.