A man in his 40s died after an ambulance struck him while he was riding his bicycle near Richmond Avenue and Christopher Lane in Graniteville, Staten Island, Monday night. Authorities say the collision happened around 10:35 p.m. as the ambulance was beginning a left turn, throwing the bicyclist from his bike and onto the roadway.
The bicyclist suffered head and body trauma and was taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to ABC7 New York. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed the vehicle involved was an FDNY Emergency Medical Services ambulance, as reported by Staten Island Advance
. The ambulance driver, 58, remained at the scene, officials said, and the ambulance was not responding to an emergency or transporting a patient at the time of the crash.
Conflicting Directions at the Moment of Impact
According to authorities, the bicyclist had been riding southbound in the northbound lanes of Richmond Avenue, while the ambulance was traveling southbound and beginning to turn left onto Christopher Lane. That stretch of Christopher Lane, between Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard, is designated an official Through Truck Route under New York City traffic rules, underscoring the commercial, multi-lane nature of the corridor where the crash took place, per the American Legal Publishing Code Library.
Under New York City Traffic Rules and state Vehicle and Traffic Law, bicyclists operating on public roadways are legally classified as vehicle drivers and are required to travel in the same direction as traffic, according to guidance published by the NYC Department of Transportation. At the same time, state law under Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1146 requires every motor vehicle driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a bicyclist or pedestrian, regardless of right-of-way conditions, per legal analysis from Justia Law.
A Second Fatal FDNY Ambulance Crash in 2026
This is not the first fatal collision this year involving an FDNY ambulance and a rider on two wheels. In February, a 65-year-old e-bike rider was fatally struck by an FDNY ambulance driven by a 21-year-old first responder at Ashland Place and Willoughby Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, according to News 12 Brooklyn, a story Hoodline covered at the time.
Municipal liability for ambulance crashes has also faced legal scrutiny this year. A Brooklyn appellate court in July reinstated a jury verdict holding New York City liable for an FDNY ambulance that struck a bicyclist in Gowanus back in 2016, citing GPS tracking data that placed the vehicle at the scene, in a ruling covered by amNewYork. Hoodline previously detailed how that decade-long court fight turned on telemetry evidence. Just days before Sunday's crash, an unmarked NYPD car also struck a cyclist in a Boerum Hill crosswalk, part of a pattern of municipal emergency vehicles colliding with cyclists that Hoodline has tracked closely.
Staten Island's Unusually Low Cycling Risk
In 2021, Staten Island had the fewest cyclist injuries of any borough and no cyclist deaths. The borough recorded zero cyclist fatalities in 2024 and maintains an annual cyclist injury rate of 14.7 per 100,000 residents — roughly 76% lower than the citywide average — according to a 2026 analysis of NYC Department of Transportation data by Richman Law. Citywide, bicyclist deaths hit a 24-year high of 30 fatalities in 2023 before dropping to 24 in 2024, prompting the city to begin tracking e-bikes separately from traditional bicycles, per The Orlow Firm.
Overall traffic deaths in New York City fell 7% during the first three months of 2026.
No summonses or further details about the ambulance driver's actions in the moments before the turn have been released. A reporter following the case will be watching for findings from the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad regarding the driver's use of turn signals and line of sight before the turn.
