By Joy Bergmann
A 43-year-old woman died Monday after being struck by an SUV near West 93rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed to WSR. The crash occurred at about 11:51 a.m. and the victim was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Morningside [St. Luke’s] Hospital; the 45-year-old male driver remained at the scene, NYPD said.
The driver was turning left onto 93rd Street from Amsterdam when he hit the woman, 24th Precinct commanding officer Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi told WSR at the scene.
A gray jacket left behind seemed to indicate the victim was in or near the crosswalk when the impact occurred.
Officials are now retrieving video from the scene and the NYPD Highway Division is investigating. There was some conjecture at the scene about whether the woman was standing before being struck.
We will update this post if we learn more.
UPDATE 1-25-22 10:15 a.m.: NYPD officials have identified the victim as Beatriz Diaz, giving her address as 681 Clarkson Avenue in Brooklyn, the location of Kingsboro Psychiatric Center. The Daily News has reported police sources describing, “the woman as homeless, and said she was known to lie down in the street. Witnesses saw her lie down right before the van hit her, the sources said.”
There are construction plates at that intersection and fresh repaving after ConEd replaced gas lines. It is possible she could tripped, but that still doesn’t excuse a driver from running her over. The driver would be looking for potholes so as bot to drive into one, so a person lying on the ground in broad daylight should not be missed.
When Inspecting the image that accompanies the story. There looks like a dried pool of blood and a gray jacket in the crosswalk. there are no Conedison metal plates there.
This is close to the corner where sunflower café used to be.
So tragic and sad . people have to cross at the same time the cars have to turn. People never seem to have the right away in New York City!
That is a lot of speculation and conjecture. It would be better and wiser to try to establish the facts.
I am sorry for the victim and wishes her loved ones a lot of strength.
This is my corner and I heard there is more to the story, but we will see.
(Please excuse previous typos!)
Revoke the driver’s license of anyone colliding with a pedestrian having the right of way
Honestly I be crossing the street when cars be turning right or left so fast to catch the light at the other corner that they almost run you over So you have to be Alert at all times.You may think they will stop & let you go by but they don’t! Even if it’s your light!! My Condolences to her family 🙏🏻
it is an impossible corner to turn
the new bike lanes and boulders in middle are causing more deaths and accidents
the city is in grave danger and it needs to be changed to make it work safely
Unfortunately not surprised to see people spreading the idea that bike lanes (???) caused the driver to kill the woman with his car. The problem is right in front of us. It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to convince someone that the drivers and their SUVs aren’t the problem.
I turn this corner several times a week and if you are a reasonably cautious driver (obeying the 25 mph speed limit; approaching the turn slowly in the turn bay; checking your driver’s side mirrors for people in the bike lane) it is simplicity itself. I fail to understand why it is so difficult for some when turn-bay intersections are all over the city now.
The small islands at the corners protect cyclists and pedestrians alike, as they give people a place to stand after crossing the bike lane when it is clear, bringing them closer and more quickly to the curb they want to reach when they have the light. It also makes a sharper turn for cars to navigate, which causes them to slow down. I suspect Cooper Stock and Jean Chambers would still be alive had the current traffic arrangements been in place when they were struck.
My deepest condolences to her family and friends.
Pedestrians are no longer safe anywhere – even in the crosswalk with the light while looking both way way its easy for a silent e-bike (or any other moving vehicle) to come out of nowhere and mow you down. A car got me last spring while I was crossing Columbus at 78 in crosswalk with light. I was super lucky – “only” a few torn ligaments in my knee …
Law Enforcement and Community Government – you need to wake up to the perils that law-abiding pedestrians are facing NOW!
Let the WSR Comment Conjecture begin!
I agree. I greatly appreciate WSR reporting on this story. And most importantly, my condolences go out to the deceased and their family.
I have learned from past experience that WSR does not hesitate to not publish comments. Perhaps for stories like this the comment section can essentially be closed until there is a full detailed report unless there is an eyewitness or a family member who would like to comment.
Rampant speculation and placing blame without knowing what happened is not constructive.
Agree. This line of talk without all the facts just puts everyone on edge. Opening up comments after the full info is available is a great idea!
Thank you for the update. Could you create a new posting with this info so people see it?
This is why we don’t jump to conclusions. What was the driver supposed to do?
Based on this information (see how I qualified that rather than making a brash statement on still incomplete information?) the poor driver is likely going to be traumatized for life for doing nothing wrong. But the UWS know-it-alls all assume that all drivers are evil.
UWSers like to act like we are so much smarter than everyone else. We are not. It is very sad.
I know I get weary from the “all-or-nothing” assumptions or blanket statements about “evil” cars and drivers. This is a prime example of unusual things encountered while driving. Granted, some people have varying capabilities (myself included), but pedestrian right-of-way doesn’t absolve pedestrians from the need to be as responsible as possible. The pedestrian/driver deal really is a 2-way street.
Except it’s not two ways because pedestrians don’t kill drivers.
Forgive me but how did the driver turn left onto 93rd from amsterdam… isn’t 93rd one-way going in opposite direction? (east to west). So was the driver going the wrong way down a one-way street?
93rd runs west downhill from this intersection.
It’s correct – Amsterdam goes from south to North, ie traffic heading Uptown. If you’re on the left lane, you can take a left onto any westbound street, including 93rd St.
I hope they find out what happened. So sad to loose a life just by crossing the street. Take extra caution, especially because of being distracted by cell phones and gpa maps etc..
It would be a left turn (north on Amsterdam then west on 93rd).
Please stop the conjecture. Let’s see what the police investigation determines.
It’s sickening. Again and again on NYC’s streets, it’s manslaughter by motor vehicle. My heart truly goes out to this lady’s family and friends. As a senior, pedestrian, cyclist, and long-time safe streets activist and member of Transportation Alternatives, I’ve come to fear and loathe these Senseless, Ugly, Vicious 4-wheeled multi-ton monsters with a passion. They have no place whatsoever on the chronically car-clogged, dangerous streets of our densely populated city. May this latest tragedy at least help spur Mayor Adams to pursue Vision Zero with greater passion and real commitment than were shown by his predecessor.
My condolences to this woman’s family and friends; this is truly tragic.
I hope NYC DOT will reconsider the design of our intersections with pedestrian safety in mind. The current mixing zones like the one at 93rd allow for turns at high speed; offset crossings with a sharp turn radius like the one at 85th/Amsterdam force drivers to slow down while turning.
Very easy to eliminate so much of this. Put up traffic cameras and if driver runs a red or speeds to make a light or cab stops in middle of street to pick up or discharge then revoke the registration immediately. Let the owner appear and explain to DMV.
That’s draconian and would never make it into any kind of legislation. Better to focus on ticketing drivers who do that – if you stepped up traffic enforcement it would make a difference.
First, we shouldn’t be speculating about this specific situation, so my comments below are general and not about this incident.
Second, I think drivers need to be more careful and we need more enforcement.
Third, there is also some responsibility held by pedestrians to get across intersections as quickly as they personally can (I understand some people can move faster than others). I take my child to school and see school buses waiting to turn while people stop in the intersection to check their phones, wipe their child’s nose, give their dog a treat, or whatever else. Get to the opposite sidewalk as quickly as possible then do what you need to do.
Very sad.
Beatrice Marie Diaz 1978-2022
She was an Army Veteran
I had recently spoken with her a few times in Riverside Park, starting with when I saw her on a bench late on one of those very cold nights.
(I attempted to find housing assistance for her through the VA, but they did not return my call – THIS IS TROUBLING TO ME).
She was a pleasant person, considerate, aware of things going on in the world and also of her personal issues and her situation. She said she was married.
Sadly, she gave details of a troubled life and had been living on the street since October of 2021.
The WSR is free to contact me if they wish (e-mail provided with comment)
Tonight a man (middle-aged) yelled at me, “Watch where you go when you are crossing the street.” I was on the the sidewalk leading to the crosswalk on West End Avenue~ with the light (at the crosswalk). He was ON THE SIDEWALK ON HIS SCOOTER and GOING AGAINST MY LIGHT, but he thought I was at fault for failing to see him coming at me from out of the blue. Pedestrians seem to be prey for these selfish drivers, whether on two wheels or in four. What are we to do?
My wife and I were driving north on Amsterdam at around 92nd street around Christmas and saw perhaps this same woman, lying down in the crosswalk! She was clearly hallucinating and talking to herself. We called emergency services and they sent an EMS unit to attend to her. So sad that she was released back onto the street to die tragically one month later.
This is first & foremost another failure of the mental health system, though one would hope a driver notices someone lying down in the road. New York State has to ante up to provide appropriate care for those with serious & persistent mental illness.
Agreed. But when someone in a grey coat lies down in the street…………….so sad, so stupid, such a terrible way to let homeless, mentally ill people out to kill themselves, basically. It costs money to take care of the mentally ill. But this is what happens if we don;t.
Tragic story. We are so far from vision zero. Let’s hope Mayor Adams can end the carnage on our streets and protect pedestrians and cyclists.
This is horrifying news. Sad for so many reasons. I want to offer my condolences to the victim’s family and add (as others have) that there has been a woman in this 5 block radius fitting this description for weeks. I saw her one time on West End Ave/95ht sitting in the street and again on a stoop on 93rd Street. Both times, NYPD was with her. Both times, she was clearly in extreme distress. Why does our city fail to help people with metal illness?
My heart breaks for both this woman and the driver. Who expects that they will encounter a woman who has a tendency to lie down in the street? Both lives are ruined. I hope the driver, if he or she was driving responsibly, get some help with the horrible guilt.
I was on my way to a physical therapy appointment near 98th street and crossed 93rd street just as I saw a small disheveled person “acting out” talking angrily and loudly to no one and then she suddenly sat down right at the beginning of the crosswalk and folded. her upper body very low to the ground. It was very cold but she was not wearing the jacket but actually covered herself with it making her even less visible. One or two cars avoided her but maybe the 3rd must have hit her.
I recently saw a woman walking down Broadway ranting and clearly not aware of her surroundings (almost got hit by cars a couple times because she didn’t look when crossing the street at all). Called 911 and followed her for over 20 blocks to help them locate her. The cops talked to her for about 3 secs and walked away. They told me that she refused help and that because she didn’t threaten anyone and wasn’t injured, there was nothing they could do. It felt awful to walk away from her, but I didn’t know what else to do from there. I know this isn’t for police to handle, but I couldn’t believe they had no resource in place for this poor woman in crisis.
I helped this woman get out of the street on 94th and Central Park a few weeks ago/ she was ranting and raving and screaming laying in the street. She almost go run over . However she refused to get out of the street. She seemed suicidal and hallucinatory type of episode screaming. I called 911 for help. Then she got up and ran down the block screaming.
To Leigh. It’s great that you tried to save her. I think the Police could have helped her. What’s that legal standard for cause to hospitalize a psychiatric patient with or without their consent, “that they pose a danger to themselves or to others” obviously she met that standard.
Would the police have had enough cause to bring her in to a hospital for evaluation or at least hold her at the precinct until someone came to evaluate her?
She was more than a danger to herself if she was in traffic. What are the standards and protocols for this type of situation?
I saw her lying on the street and called 911.
They came relatively quickly.
But she was released within a day and back on the street and lying on the street
Kendras Law.
If applied – she would still be alive.
Call your politicians and Governor!