Man struck, killed crossing Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown, Nassau police say

A pedestrian walking his bicycle across Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown was struck and killed Thursday night, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

The 50-year-old man "suffered multiple trauma injuries to his body" after he was struck by a 2000 Mack truck shortly after 10 p.m. at Wantagh Avenue, the department said in a news release.

Hempstead Turnpike — which is eight traffic lanes at that intersection — has long been considered among New York State’s deadliest roadways for pedestrians.

On Thursday evening, the pedestrian had been crossing northbound at Wantagh Avenue and was struck by the truck, which was headed west, the release said. About 20 minutes later, a hospital doctor declared the pedestrian dead, the release said.

The driver stayed at the scene, and an investigation is "ongoing" by the department’s Homicide Squad, the release said.

The department did not provide additional details such as the suspected cause of the crash and whether the driver had violated any laws, nor were the names of the driver and pedestrian disclosed.

In 2019, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, there were 1,414 pedestrians struck on Long Island, and 60 killed. Of those, 905 were hit in Nassau, with 29 killed, and 509 were hit in Suffolk, with 31 killed, according to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research at the University at Albany.