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Update February 3, 2017- The defendant, 26-year old Samuel Silva, pleaded guilty in a deal offered by the DA, in order to avoid 7-years in the slammer if he had gone to trial. Silva was drunk at the time of murdering Olga Cook.
Update July 14, 2016- Downtown Express has a photo of the woman killed on her bike last month.
June 12, 2016- ABC reports that a woman was on a bicycle Saturday night when a white Ford SUV struck her. The driver fled the scene, but an off-duty MTA cop found the vehicle three blocks away and apprehended the suspect.
The accident happened before 8:00 PM on June 11th, at Chambers and West Streets.
The woman later died. Her name and the name of the perpetrator have not been released. Police described has a 26-year-old male and charged him with manslaughter.
As an editor’s note, I have stopped riding bikes down here for the most part because the bike path is too crowded and dangerous. We have published numerous stories on the dangers of these pedestrian intersections of West Street, especially near the WTC and 9/11 memorial.
Now that we have the bike path, it is not appropriate that bicyclists still speed down the esplanade and the north Park.
Out on Sunday and a speedy biker was weaving in between toddlers on the bike path –very scary situation.
I was walking my bike with my friend and we were amazed that no one stopped the bicyclist –but then another speedy bicyclist came along….
1) In response to prior letter:
A toddler has no business being on the bike path. It is not meant for walking or tricycling. However, if you are saying a cyclist was speeding on the esplanade, then I agree with you that it is a problem.
2) As a pedestrian, driver, and occasional cyclist, the bigger problem is that cars turning right off West Side Highway can not see cyclists traveling south while turning and cyclists assume they have the all clear to go as fast as they can when the light is green. Both have the right away when the traffic light in the southern lane turns green; however, they should not.
The other day a cyclist almost slammed into my passenger door. We need delayed turns and bikes/pedestrians coming to a complete stop while cars are turning.