100s Of Cyclists Join Brooklyn Memorial Ride For Jose Alzorriz

SOUTH SLOPE, BROOKLYN — An army of cyclists, advocates, friends and elected officials rode through the streets of Brooklyn on Sunday to call for safer streets at a memorial for Jose Alzorriz, the 19th cyclist to lose his life this year.

The memorial ride, which drew a crowd of several hundred people, started near Bartel-Pritchard Square and traveled Prospect Park West to reach the Coney Island Avenue and Avenue L intersection where Alzorriz died earlier this month.

The Park Slope triathlete and journalist was thrown from his bike after an 18-year-old driver, who has been charged with manslaughter, ran a red light and T-boned an SUV at the intersection.

The Sunday memorial ride began and ended with speakers calling for safety improvements on streets like Coney Island Avenue.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and members of Alzorriz's family spoke of changing the "car culture" in New York City.

"It's time for all of us — cyclists, pedestrians, scooter riders, skateboarders and drivers — to come together as one safe streets family," Adams said in a Tweet. "Let's end this carnage."

Amanda Hanna-McLeer, the daughter of Alzorriz's partner Irene, told the crowd that this isn't the first time her family has gone through a tragic traffic death, according to those that were there. Her father, Adam, lost his mother to a hit-and-run accident in Bay Ridge in the 1990s.

Hanna-McLeer shared memories about Alzorriz while calling for a systematic shift on the city's streets.