An unlicensed driver struck and killed a 10-year-old boy in Kensington on Saturday morning.
The driver of a 2002 Ford SUV was turning left off Seton Place onto Foster Avenue when he struck Dalerjon Shahobiddinov at 10:33 am, hitting the boy as he cycled in the crosswalk, according to police.
First responders rushed the child to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Cops arrested the 29-year-old motorist at the scene on charges of failing to yield to a bicyclist, operating a motor vehicle without a license, and failing to exercise due care, according to authorities.
The tragic accident occurred just steps from the boy’s home on Foster Avenue between Seton Place and E. Fifth Street, according to police.
Shahobiddinov’s death marks the 24th bicyclist killed on city streets this year — far outpacing the 10 cyclists slain throughout all of 2018 — which a spokesman for advocacy group Transportation Alternatives described as a “preventable public health crisis” in calling for additional street-safety measures.
“We press members of the New York City Council, and especially those in Brooklyn, which has seen the most bicyclist deaths this year, to pass Speaker Corey Johnson’s Streets Master Plan bill, which would systematically address streets across the city…that have no accommodations for people on bikes,” said Danny Harris.
Harris also demanded city to accelerate Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ‘Green Wave’ proposal, which would vastly expand the city’s bike lane network.
Hizzoner took to Twitter on Saturday evening to announce safety changes to the intersection where the boy was struck.
“[The Department of Transportation] is already making changes to the intersection by clearing parking spots to improve visibility, assessing the need for speed humps, and reviewing if there were any prior incidents at Foster Avenue and Seton Place,” de Blasio wrote.
