GoFundMe For Family Of Delivery Worker Killed By Astoria Driver

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Queens State Assemblymember Zohran K. Mamdani set up a GoFundMe to support the family of a father-of-two who was killed by a reckless driver in Astoria on Thursday.

According to the GoFundMe and police reports, Elmhurst resident and delivery worker, Xing Long Lin, 37, was in the middle of a shift on 35th Avenue near Ditmars Thursday night when a driver in an SUV entered a bike lane and hit his scooter, dragging his body and scooter under her car as she crashed into two other parked vehicles and plowed into an outdoor dining structure at Rosatoro, injuring a woman inside.

“Xing was only 37 years old. A Chinese immigrant, he came to this country 14 years ago to provide for his family,” wrote Assemblymember Mamdani on the GoFundMe page, noting that Xing leaves behind a wife, and two children under the age of 10.

“Xing was the sole income-earner of his household. He tried to work as much as he could so he could provide enough for his family here as well as his mother and father who live in China,” he wrote, imploring people to help raise the fundraisers goal of $10,000 to provide financial support for funeral expenses and the family’s immediate needs.

Assemblymember Mamdani, who has been a longtime advocate for pedestrian and bike safety in his district of Astoria and Long Island City, also pointed out on the fundraising page that Xing’s death is not the first instance when an essential worker was killed by reckless driving in Astoria, citing the death of Alfredo Cabrera Licona who was killed by a reckless truck driver in the Crescent Street bike lane last November.

“The true cause of death for both Xing and Alfredo was the inadequate road safety infrastructure across Astoria, infrastructure that incentivizes the kind of reckless driving that took their lives,” he wrote.

“Our neighborhood, and this entire city, needs appropriate infrastructure to prevent cars from entering bike lanes. Paint will not save people, proper protection will,” wrote the Queens Assemblymember.

He also pointed out that “without these changes, more will die,” and those most at risk of death are “essentially workers like Xing and Alfredo who will continue to be most exposed to the risks and most impacted when they inevitably come to a head, as they are the people who we rely on to keep our city running as we emerge from this pandemic.”

You can donate to the GoFundMe to support the family of Xing Long Lin here.