Junming Zhu, 28, told a Cambridge courtroom on Thursday that he is pleading guilty to motor vehicle homicide in the 2024 crash that killed cyclist John Corcoran, a 62-year-old Newton man struck while riding an electric bicycle near the Boston University boathouse. Prosecutors are asking for a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence, with 18 months to be served and the rest suspended, while Zhu's lawyer has pushed for two years of probation instead. The judge sentenced Zhu to two and a half years, with one year to be served, and revoked his license for 15 years.
According to The Boston Globe, prosecutors say Zhu was driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV that veered off the roadway and struck Corcoran as he rode his electric bicycle on a sidewalk by the boathouse. Investigators said Corcoran had just ridden from a shared-use path onto that thin strip of sidewalk when Zhu drove over the curb. Corcoran was left lying in the road, his bicycle and helmet in scattered pieces, while witnesses called authorities and tried to help him before he died of injuries too severe to survive.
Zhu told officers he lost control after noticing what appeared to be an insect inside the vehicle, and he denied using his cellphone at the time, the same report notes. He pleaded not guilty at his July 2025 arraignment, when he was released on personal recognizance and ordered not to drive. Per the same account, Zhu could still change his plea again if he ultimately does not agree with whatever sentence the judge hands down.
Family and Supporters Fill the Courtroom
Cyclists turned out in the courtroom Thursday in support of Corcoran, who relatives described as a cautious rider who enjoyed leisurely trips, particularly along the water. His son, Jack Corcoran, testified that the family was devastated by the loss and called his father an incredible, wonderful man whose life should continue to be valued, the Globe reported. Zhu's lawyer, for his part, noted that his client has no criminal record and helps care for his six-year-old nephew at the family's home in Malden.
A Third Cyclist Death in a Single Year
Corcoran's death marked the third fatal crash involving a cyclist in Cambridge in 2024, following two box-truck collisions that June. Kim Staley, a 55-year-old visiting from Florida, was killed while riding a rented Bluebike near Harvard Square, and Minh-Thi Nguyen, a 24-year-old MIT graduate student, died after being struck in Kendall Square, according to the Globe's earlier reporting on the string of crashes. Both of those incidents involved freight box trucks turning right across bike lanes, and neither truck had side guards, the paper found.
Nguyen's family later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court against the truck's operator and driver, alleging negligence, according to NBC Boston. The suit claims Nguyen was riding in a bike lane, wearing a helmet and following traffic rules when the truck hit her as it turned onto Portland Street. The two Cambridge deaths that June were among the string of crashes the Globe reported at the time.
Safety Push Continues Amid Rising Ridership
The surge in fatalities arrived as biking has become more common in the city, with a record nine percent of Cambridge commuters getting to work by bike in 2022, according to WGBH. That outlet also reported that injury rates for cyclists, especially severe injuries, have dropped substantially over the past two decades even as the total number of collisions has risen alongside ridership. Cambridge has also seen fatal bicycle crashes.
The city's Cycling Safety Ordinance is meant to drive construction of protected bike lanes, and NBC Boston reported that work carried a tentative deadline of November 1, 2026. WGBH, however, reported that the Cambridge City Council had voted to delay the rollout to fall 2027, leaving the timeline for the safety upgrades unsettled even as the Corcoran case moves toward its final chapter.
