Photos by @damskydelivery
A 61-year-old man is in critical condition after hitting a pothole while riding his bike on the Upper East Side last night.
Police were called to the scene at about 8 p.m. and closed off the affected portion of the street.
The man had been traveling northbound on First Avenue and, upon approaching the intersection on 78th Street, “failed to navigate the roadway and struck a pothole,” a police spokesperson told us. The “cyclist was ejected and thrown into the roadway causing severe head trauma.”
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The man was taken to an area hospital in critical condition.
“This is probably the fifth time I’ve had to stop riding home and look at a scene [in this area],” said David Damsky, a bike messenger who tells us how roadway accidents are an all-too-common occurrence in his line of work. While the police did not confirm any details outside of those mentioned above, Damsky believes it was a “food delivery guy” who’d struck the pothole.
An investigation is currently ongoing; we’ll provide updates if and when more information is released.
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Was he riding an E bike? I write that only because of the “delivery guy” reference. I understand they have to be fast and make as many deliveries as possible but they fly down the street at crazy speeds. I pray that he recovers; we need more safety measures.
What does this mean: “failed to navigate the roadway and struck a pothole.” Was the pothole not in the roadway, or it was and he “failed” to avoid it? Like the DOT “failed” to fill it?
Also there’s an annoying pop-up ad at the bottom of my story screen and I can’t get rid of it by click on the X.