Woman Suffers Skull Fracture After Cyclist Allegedly Blows Through Red Light

The mid-block crosswalk where the pedestrian was struck

A woman was seriously injured after getting struck by a cyclist who blew through a red light on Thursday, police said. [UPDATE: The victim has succumbed to her injuries; read our update here.]

The pedestrian was in a crosswalk at West 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues at around 1:30 p.m. when she was hit by the cyclist, according to authorities. She was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center with a fractured skull and bleeding in the brain.

The woman has been identified by CBS 2 as 67-year-old Donna Sturm. Her husband told the outlet she is now in serious but stable condition.

The cyclist has been identified in multiple reports as 40-year-old Damian Deward. He remained on the scene, police said, and declined medical attention. Although it was reported that Deward was given a ticket for a red light violation, an NYPD spokesperson told Gothamist this morning that he was not issued a citation or charged.

Deward also told cops that his gears and brakes were not working properly, according to a police source who spoke with the Post. Early reports from the Daily News indicate he lived in a Brooklyn homeless shelter.

The NYPD is now cracking down on cyclists in the area, CBS reports. In a statement to the outlet, Sturm's employer wrote: “All of us who live or work in New York City do so at our peril because of bike riders speeding through intersections and often going against traffic on one-way streets. Bicycles should have a license plate to create accountability for the riders. We pray that Donna will fully recover from this tragedy."

A pedestrian has not been killed by a cyclist in New York City since 2017, when Shun Kwong Leung was struck by a cyclist on Essex Street running a red light. Leung later died of his injuries, and the Manhattan DA declined to prosecute the case.

Of the 754 pedestrians killed on city streets in the half decade before that, just two deaths were caused by cyclists.

Meanwhile, fatalities on New York City streets are up nearly 40 percent this year over 2018, which saw drivers fatally strike 115 pedestrians and ten cyclists. The NYPD says 64 people have died from traffic collisions so far this year, up from 43 during the same time period in 2018.