The city still hasn’t identified the garbage-truck operator who hit and killed a cyclist in Greenpoint on July 22, even though a rep for the business that employs the driver said company records can trace workers to its trucks on that night.
“Action Environmental Services continues to cooperate fully,” said rep Ken Frydman. “We have records of our employees, the NYPD is conducting the investigation.”
The driver was traveling on Franklin Street when he or she turned onto Noble Street at 12:30 am, striking and killing 27-year-old Neftaly Ramirez, who was pedaling home from work at pizzeria Paulie Gee’s.
Police on July 25 told the website DNA Info the truck belongs to Action Carting, a New Jersey-based service that collects garbage from more than 16,400 private businesses across the city, a fact that was confirmed to the Brooklyn Paper by police after Frydman called other reports of his company’s involvement “speculative.”
But Frydman wouldn’t explain why no arrests have been made even though he admitted the company has records of where and when its employees are driving trucks in the city.
As for the delay, he compared the case to that of murdered Queens jogger Karina Vetrano, in which police took eight months to track down the alleged killer, and said that cops are taking their time in order to arrest the right person.
He then bashed journalists for expecting the city to identify the driver within weeks of the collision.
“I know you guys are in a frenzy to convict someone in the court of public opinion,” he said.
The former spokesman for the New York Daily News concluded by offering his advice to reporters, who should be more cautious and patient like the police.
“I’m not intending to give you a hard job but the NYPD is saying what we’re saying because that’s what should be said,” he said, “Detectives are very meticulous about what they do.”
A police spokesman said the investigation is ongoing, and did not answer questions on why it is taking so long to identify the driver.
