MANHATTAN – A salmon steak lay mangled on the pavement under a hulking black pickup truck, the green reusable shopping bag it was thrown from lays nearby. Three baseball-sized spots of blood stained the pavement in front of the truck, a clear sign of the violent collision that occurred at an Upper East Side intersection Tuesday evening, leaving a 66-year-old man carrying groceries critically injured.
NYPD investigators confirm to Upper East Site it was just before 6:00 pm Tuesday when the driver of a black Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, who was making a left turn from First Avenue onto East 77th Street in Lenox Hill, hit the senior citizen as he was crossing East 77th Street, knocking the man to ground.
The 66-year-old victim, who hasn’t be identified by police, suffered traumatic injuries to his face and body and was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center by paramedics, where he remains hospitalized in critical condition, police say.
Earlier this year, Upper East Side City Council Member Julie Menin called on the NYC Department of transportation to review and redesign dozens of dangerous intersections.
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However, the scene of Tuesday’s crash, East 77th Street and First Avenue, was not on the list of more than forty problem roadways.
According to City traffic summons data reviewed by Upper East Site, the black Toyota Tacoma has a history of dangerous driving– having been cited by traffic cameras for speeding in a school zone fourteen times since the summer of 2019.
The 34-year-old man who was driving the Toyota pickup could be seen standing near the scene of the collision on Tuesday evening.
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Police say no arrests have been made and the crash remains under investigation by the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad.
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