Bicyclist Thomas Velazquez airlifted to Stony Brook hospital with serious injuries in crash in Holtsville, police say
A bicyclist was seriously injured trying to turn when a driver struck him Saturday morning in Holtsville, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The crash happened at about 9 a.m. as the cyclist, 41-year-old Thomas Velazquez of Massapequa Park, rode northbound on North Ocean Avenue and tried to turn left, north of Jamaica Avenue; the 52-year-old driver of a northbound 2007 Honda Civic then struck him, a police release said.
Velazquez — who sustained trauma to his head, the police department's press office said in an email — was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, the release said.
The driver had the right of way, the email said. The road has two northbound lanes, a center turn lane and two southbound lanes, the email said. The department didn't respond to an inquiry asking how fast the driver, who is from Blue Point, was traveling. The driver was going north in the left lane next to the center lane; The cyclist was riding on the shoulder “and turned in front of the vehicle,” the email said.
Newsday does not generally name drivers involved in crashes absent the police department alleging there has been wrongdoing by the driver.
As of Nov. 15 on Long Island, there were at least 519 bicyclists injured, and 6 killed, in traffic crashes with motor vehicles. In Nassau, 282 were injured and 1 killed; in Suffolk, 237 were injured and 5 killed, according to preliminary tallies from the Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
