A Brooklyn SUV driver who fatally struck a bicyclist has been charged with vehicular manslaughter for being high and unlicensed when he crashed, police said Monday.
Can Nomer was driving north on Union Ave. in Williamsburg when he struck the 46-year-old cyclist pedaling in the same direction about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, according to cops. Nomer then slammed his Black 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan into an unoccupied sedan near Lynch St.
The bicyclist, identified by cops Monday as Lewis Mendez, was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.
Nomer, 40, was also hospitalized before being charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving without a license, driving while under the influence of drugs and driving with ability impaired police said.
Nomer and Mendez happened to be neighbors, living a couple blocks apart in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to cops.
Councilman Lincoln Restler, who represents Williamsburg, wrote on X the man’s death might have been preventable.
A man riding a bicycle on Union Ave. in Williamsburg Sunday was fatally struck by the driver of a Black 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
“We suffered tragic cyclist fatality by Union & Lynch in Williamsburg today,” he wrote. “We’ll keep pushing for safer streets on every block. More cyclists died in NYC last year than 25 yrs. These deaths are preventable w/ network of protected lanes.”
Thirty cyclists were killed in 2023, making it the deadliest year for cyclists since 1999, according to the Department of Transportation. Nearly 400 cyclists were severely injured.