NYC's Fatal Weekend Of Car Crashes Leaves 4 Dead, Police Say

NEW YORK CITY — A Holocaust survivor, a teenage girl and a Brooklyn mom died in a weekend wave of traffic crashes across New York City, according to authorities, activists and reports.

Four people lost their lives to traffic violence between Friday and Sunday, bringing the year's death toll to 22, a 38 percent increase from the same time period in 2021, said police and the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.

“Once again we are shaken by devastating, deadly traffic violence in New York City," said TransAlt Deputy Director Marco Conner DiAquoi. “What is most upsetting is that these deaths could have been prevented."

The fatal crashes began Friday when 32-year old e-bike rider Nicole Reign was hit by a school bus near Eastern Parkway and St. Marks Avenue about 11:20 a.m., Patch reported at the time.

The Vision Zero intersection is among the top 4 percent of deadliest in Brooklyn where more than 85 people have been injured in the past five years, according to TransAlt and city data.

One day later, Jack Mikulincer — a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor on his way to a synagogue — was struck by a BMW while crossing the Manhattan Beach intersection of Coleridge Street and Oriental Boulevard in his electric wheelchair, according to police and a New York Daily News report.

Mikulincer later died at Coney Island Hospital, NYPD officials said.

“Jack Mikulincer survived concentration camps during the Holocaust,"said John Berman, a member of Families for Safe Streets. "He could not survive simply trying to cross the street to get to his synagogue."

Two more fatal crashes unfolded early Sunday, authorities said.

A police chase down Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights ended with a Hyundai Sonata slamming into a Toyota near Rogers Avenue about 2 a.m. Sunday, police said.

The crash sent the 18-year-old Sonata driver and three passengers — an 18-year-old girl and two 19-year-old boys — to the hospital, police said.

The girl, 18, died from her injuries, authorities said.

Another fatal crash occurred a few hours later on the Bronx River Parkway near East Fordham Road, police said.

Medics rushed a 50-year-old man to Jacobi Medical Center, but doctors were unable to save his life, authorities said.

Mayor Eric Adams pledged last month to update more than 1,000 dangerous intersections where New Yorkers have lost their lives in traffic crashes.

Said Adams, "These fatalities are happening, these injuries are happening, merely because people want to cross the street."

In 2021, the city had its deadliest year for crashes since officials began Vision Zero, an ambitious street safety program with the goal of no fatalities. The death toll last year stood at 273.

Related coverage:

Teen Killed, 4 Hurt When Driver Chased By Cops Crashes In BK: PD

Patch writer Anna Quinn contributed to this report.