A 15-year-old girl was killed and a 13-year-old girl was injured Friday night after a large truck struck the bicycle they were riding together at East 14th Street and First Avenue in the East Village. Police say the two teenagers were sharing a single Citi Bike when the truck, traveling westbound on 14th Street, turned right onto First Avenue and hit them around 9 p.m.
Both girls were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where the 15-year-old was pronounced dead and the 13-year-old was being treated for her injuries, according to CBS News New York. The driver stayed at the scene, police said. Images from the crash site showed the Citi Bike lodged underneath the truck's tires, per the same outlet's report.
Following the collision, police cordoned off several blocks of First Avenue starting from East 13th Street as the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad conducted an on-scene forensic reconstruction into the night, according to local accounts shared on Reddit. Residents in that same discussion described the intersection as a known danger zone, particularly for drivers turning right from westbound 14th Street onto northbound First Avenue, calling the turn perilous for pedestrians and cyclists alike.
A Corridor Built for Trucks, Not Bikes
Part of the risk stems from how the street itself is designed. East 14th Street was designated a Transit and Truck Priority corridor by the NYC Department of Transportation in October 2019, a move meant to concentrate heavy bus and commercial truck traffic on the street to speed up cross-town transit. That same policy funnels large trucks directly into the intersection where Friday's crash occurred.
First Avenue's history with turning trucks predates this crash by years. In June 2023, an 18-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a box truck at First Avenue and East 17th Street, just three blocks north of Friday's crash site, according to Patch. And in April 2017, a 31-year-old cyclist was killed by a turning box truck at First Avenue and East 9th Street, a case in which the NYPD cited the driver for lacking mandatory crossover mirrors, as reported by DNAinfo at the time.
Truck Mirror and Yield Laws Come Into Focus
New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law § 375(10-e), enacted in 2011, requires commercial trucks weighing 26,000 pounds or more operating on New York City streets to be equipped with front crossover convex mirrors designed to eliminate blind spots directly in front of the cab, according to the New York State Senate. The law followed multiple fatal truck collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists across the city.
Separately, NYC Administrative Code § 19-190, passed under Vision Zero, makes it an unclassified misdemeanor for a driver who fails to yield the right-of-way to a cyclist or pedestrian and causes physical injury or death, punishable by fines and potential criminal liability, per NYC.gov. The NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad typically evaluates failure-to-yield statutes when reconstructing fatal crashes like Friday's.
Questions Around the Shared Citi Bike
The crash has also drawn attention to how the two teenagers were riding. New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1232 prohibits riding a bicycle with more passengers than it was designed to carry, a rule reflected in Citi Bike's own terms of service barring multiple riders on its single-person bikes, according to A Legal Handbook For New York Cyclists. Citi Bike policy and New York City Council rules also require riders to be at least 16 years old to operate the shared bikes, according to 1010 WINS, which reported that city lawmakers have pushed for stricter age verification on shared bike platforms. The victims in Friday's crash were 15 and 13 years old.
Citywide, cycling safety data compiled by the city's Department of Transportation showed 4,461 traditional bicycle injuries in 2024, even as traditional cyclist deaths fell to a record low of three through the third quarter of 2025, according to AEE Law. The figures illustrate a citywide pattern in which overall injuries remain stubbornly high even as fatal outcomes have declined.
No charges had been announced against the truck driver as of Friday night. The NYPD's investigation into the crash was ongoing.
