Pedestrian Hit Crossing Street In Brooklyn Dies, Cops Say

BROOKLYN, NY — Police have revealed details about a Dec. 2 crash that killed a 53-year-old man in Gravesend, bringing the count of pedestrian fatalities up to seven since late November in Brooklyn.

Yaosen Tan was crossing Avenue V just a block from his home around 5:15 p.m. when a Toyota Camry driving north on West 11th Street made a left onto Avenue V and hit him, cops said. Tan was found lying in the road with severe head trauma and rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where he died two days later, police said.

Police said their Collision Investigation Squad determined that Tan had emerged from two parked cars as the 70-year-old driver of the Camry had turned onto the street. The driver stayed on the scene after the crash, cops said.

The crash adds to a long list of fatal pedestrian crashes both in Brooklyn and across the city during the last few weeks of 2019. Including Tan's death, there have been seven pedestrians killed in the borough since late November.

Tan's death came within just a few days of two of other Brooklyn pedestrian deaths, including 40-year-old Tracy Lewis-Belgrave, who was hit and killed early December by an SUV as she was crossing a section of Downtown Brooklyn that had been turned into a "Shared Street" and another woman, who was killed in late November when she was hit in an East New York in a hit-and-run.

A particularly brutal week in late December led to at least one safety measure from city officials, who announced that they will lower the speed limit from 30 MPH to 25 MPH along Third Avenue from Prospect Ave to 62nd Street and Hamilton Avenue, from Luquer Street to 18th Street in January.

Third Avenue saw two of the pedestrian deaths in the last week and four total cyclist or pedestrian deaths this year.