Driver Opened Door Before Fatal Broadway E-Bike Crash
The city recorded one cyclist death at Broadway and Lorimer Street at 7:52 a.m.; police told the Post that a Honda Accord driver opened a door into John Paolicelli, 64, before a Hyundai driver ran him over.
What We Know
The crash happened at about 7:52 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2024, at Broadway and Lorimer Street in Williamsburg. The city record says a 64-year-old man riding an e-bike east was killed and lists driver inattention or distraction, with two sedans involved. Police accounts published by Brooklyn Paper and the New York Post say a Honda Accord driver opened a front door as John Paolicelli rode east; he was forced into another lane, where a Hyundai Elantra driver ran him over. Emergency responders moved the Hyundai, and Paolicelli was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died. Police said drivers stayed at the scene and no arrests had been made.
Police said a driver opened a door into an eastbound rider.
At 7:52 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2024, the city crash record recorded a fatal crash at Broadway and Lorimer Street in Brooklyn. The record says the 64-year-old cyclist was riding an e-bike east and that two sedans were involved.
Police accounts published by Brooklyn Paper and the New York Post say John Paolicelli was riding east on Broadway when a Honda Accord driver opened a front door near Lorimer Street. The accounts say he was thrown or moved into another lane, where a Hyundai Elantra driver ran him over.
John Paolicelli died after severe head trauma.
The New York Post identified the cyclist as John Paolicelli, 64, an Upper East Side resident. Police said he was unresponsive and had severe head trauma after the crash. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died.
The city record cites driver inattention or distraction.
The official crash record lists driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor and identifies the parked sedan as a 2019 Honda and the moving sedan as a 2022 Hyundai. The published police accounts describe the crash as beginning when the Honda driver opened a door into Paolicelli’s path.
The crash happened by a school on a corridor advocates had flagged.
Brooklyn Paper reported that I.S. 318 is less than a block from the crash scene and that Council Member Lincoln Restler said students witnessed the incident. Restler asked the Department of Transportation for an immediate safety review of the intersection and asked the NYPD to assign a crossing guard to the school.
Citing NYC Crash Mapper, Brooklyn Paper reported nine crashes at Lorimer Street and Broadway over the previous five years, injuring 10 people. Transportation Alternatives called the intersection dangerous, citing slip lanes and a lack of protective infrastructure, and said Broadway had been a Vision Zero Priority Corridor for more than a decade.
Police said drivers stayed and no arrests had been made.
Emergency responders moved the Hyundai and found Paolicelli unconscious, Brooklyn Paper reported. The New York Post reported that all drivers stayed at the scene. Both outlets reported that police had made no arrests as of publication.