Sanitation truck driver charged in Bay Parkway pedestrian death. The local Council member raised the crash with the commissioner Monday

Police have charged the city Sanitation Department truck driver who struck and killed a 30-year-old woman at Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue in southern Brooklyn last week, amNY reported Thursday. The 41-year-old driver was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

The woman was crossing with the light on the evening of Oct. 28 when the truck hit her, according to amNY. She died at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. The driver stayed at the scene. amNY described both charges as misdemeanors carrying fines of up to $250 and up to 30 days in jail.

Why it matters to residents: the city's own trucks are among the heaviest vehicles on neighborhood streets, and the city is responsible for how its drivers are trained and how its fleet is equipped. The corner where the crash happened has a long crash record. The charges are allegations; the driver has not been convicted.

A Sanitation Department spokesperson told amNY, "This is a terrible tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family of the victim." The department did not immediately comment on the arrest, the outlet reported.

This is a follow-up to our Oct. 30 story on the crash and the intersection's history.

What our records add

The local Council member raised it at a hearing with the Sanitation commissioner. The intersection is in District 47, represented by Kayla Santosuosso, who sits on the Sanitation Committee. At the committee's Nov. 2 hearing on snow preparedness, she opened her questions by acknowledging "the constituent who was killed in my district last week by a sanitation truck." She said the crash was still under investigation and thanked the commissioner for early outreach and for a commitment to finding out "whatever we can do to prevent that from happening again." The hearing then moved on to snow plans; our summary of that meeting notes members also asked about the age of the department's equipment fleet.

A crowded corner. Streetsblog found at least 106 crashes at the intersection since 2021, injuring 77 people, including 18 pedestrians, as we reported last week. At the Transportation Committee's Oct. 27 Vision Zero hearing, the day before the crash, a DOT official said the department's coming Streets Plan will name a new set of priority corridors for redesign based on crash data.

Bills that touch crashes and city vehicles are waiting. None is specific to Sanitation trucks, and none has had a hearing:

• Int. 606, from Rita C. Joseph, would require DOT to investigate vehicle collisions. It has seven sponsors and has been in committee since Feb. 12, 266 days.
• Int. 780, from Yusef Salaam, would require the NYPD to publish daily maps of crashes involving police vehicles and places where police vehicles sped. It has been in committee since March 10.
• Int. 511, from Julie Won, would ban parking within 20 feet of crosswalks so drivers can see people crossing. It has 27 Council sponsors and no hearing since it was introduced Jan. 29.

What's next

• The case now moves through the courts.
• DOT has not given a date for the Streets Plan and its new priority corridors.
• The Sanitation Committee has no published hearing on fleet safety. The Transportation Committee's bills above would each need a hearing before a vote.