Cyclist Killed By Cement Truck In East Williamsburg: Cops

EAST WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A cyclist was hit and killed by a cement truck in East Williamsburg early Monday afternoon, making it the third cyclist death this week and the 15th this year.

The 28-year-old cyclist, hit near Boerum Street and Bushwick Avenue around 12:20 p.m., died shortly after they went into cardiac arrest from the accident, FDNY officials and police confirmed.

Police said that the person was riding their bike along Bushwick Avenue when they were struck by a cement truck driving on Boerum Street.

The fatal accident comes only a few hours before advocates and elected officials are scheduled to rally in Brownsville following another cyclist death on a street corner there last week.

The East Williamsburg accident has renewed the activists' calls for safer policies from the city.

"New Yorkers on bikes are being killed at a record rate," Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets said in a statement. "New Yorkers have long called for a more aggressive and innovative approach. Today we are in a crisis. It’s up to Mayor (Bill) de Blasio and the City Council to act."

The advocates argue that the mayor's Vision Zero Action Plan to eliminate traffic deaths is effective, but only when it has the necessary financing and planning. The groups said right now the initiative is in a "state of emergency" and called on the Department of Transportation and City Council to pass a bundle of traffic safety laws they are calling "The Vision Zero State of Emergency Omnibus Bill."

The East Williamsburg accident is the 15th cyclist death in the first six months of 2019, up from only 10 cyclists who died in all of 2018. Ten of the cyclists this year were killed in Brooklyn.

The Brownsville rally will honor Ernest Askew, who was fatally struck by a teenage driver Thursday night at the corner of Chester Street and Sutter Avenue. Just a few days before Askew's death, Robyn Hightman was killed on her bicycle in Manhattan.

The advocates, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, are scheduled to rally at the Chester Street and Sutter Avenue corner at 6 p.m. Monday.