A Queens bicyclist was fatally struck by a truck driver who was fleeing NYPD cops, police said Wednesday.
Cops responding to a 911 call of a burglary in progress on 39th Ave. near Crescent St. in Long Island City about 11 p.m. Tuesday spotted a Dodge Ram parked nearby with an obstructed rear license plate, cops said. Three men were inside.
When the officers walked over to the truck, the driver sped off, striking two police cars as he made his escape.
Cops in a marked NYPD van pursued the Dodge Ram for about a mile into Astoria, where the fleeing truck driver T-boned 37-year-old bicyclist Amanda Servido in the intersection of 37th St. and 34th Ave, cops said.
Servido had just pedaled into the intersection when she was struck by the oncoming Dodge Ram, shocking surveillance video obtained by the Daily News shows.
The NYPD van was hot on the Dodge Ram’s heels with its lights flashing.
Servido was thrown from her bike onto a parked car, police said.
Cops abandoned the pursuit and stopped to render aid to Servido as the Dodge Ram sped off, police said. The truck was later found abandoned on Newtown Road and 47th Ave., cops said.
Medics rushed Servido to Elmhurst Hospital but she couldn’t be saved. She was about eight blocks from home when she was struck.
Two officers in the NYPD vehicles struck by the Dodge Ram driver also suffered minor injuries and were treated at the same hospital.
Three people have been killed in NYPD pursuits this year and many more injured, Transportation Alternatives Co-Executive Director Elizabeth Adams said.
“Driving any vehicle at high speed puts everyone on the street at risk, and police chases are no exception,” Adams said. “The police regularly put New Yorkers at risk with these deadly, unnecessary chases. It’s time for the city to ban police chases in writing and in practice – maintaining the status quo will kill more of our neighbors.”
NYPD car chases have surged under the Adams administration, according to a recent analysis by news site The City.
In the first three months of 2023, police engaged in pursuits 304 times — an almost 600% uptick compared to the same time frame in 2022, the outlet found, citing data about 911 calls.
The increase exceeded the total number of vehicle pursuits in 2022, which came to 214 chases.
The spike in pursuits stemmed from concerns that more crimes were being carried out by drivers in unregistered vehicles, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell explained last year.
“People thinking they can take off on us — those days are over,” he said at a July 6, 2023, press conference.
While the policy shift has drawn criticism from police watchdogs who say the risks outweigh the potential upsides, the NYPD insists high-speed chases are sometimes necessary.
“Pursuing any car is inherently dangerous,” Chell said last year. “You’ve got to strike that balance [of] when you’re going to do it, how you’re going to do it … I tell bosses if you don’t think it’s a go, you call it off.”
After receiving staunch criticism about police pursuits, the NYPD switched gears, implementing new policies in which supervisors must approve police pursuits based on a number of factors, including if the decision to pursue could harm the public.