Cyclist In Critical Condition After Getting Hit By Box Truck Driver In Queens

A cyclist is in critical condition after he was struck by a box truck driver in Queens early Thursday morning.

According to the NYPD, the cyclist was traveling westbound on Maurice Avenue in Maspeth when he was run over at the intersection of 69th Street by a driver traveling in the same direction. The cyclist was transported to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition just after 6 a.m., police said. Further details about the crash remain unclear at this time.

An NYPD spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing and police were still determining whether there was criminality involved, but had not yet questioned the driver.

A total of six people have been killed riding their bikes on New York City streets this year, compared to just ten in all of 2018. Combined, pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are up nearly 40 percent since this time last year.

Out of six cyclists killed in 2019 — Chaim Joseph, Susan Moses, Hector Ayala Jr., Hugo Garcia, Aurilla Lawrence, and Robert Spencer — only the hit-and-run driver who struck Joseph has been arrested. He was charged with failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to a cyclist, both misdemeanors, but was not charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury or death, which is a felony.

This is a breaking story and we'll update as more information becomes available.