Woman Hit By Truck Dies Months After Chelsea Crash, Police Say

CHELSEA, NY — A woman died this week nearly five months after she was hit in a Chelsea crosswalk by a tractor-trailer truck making her the 59th pedestrian to die in 2019, officials said.

Firstess Earth Crosby, 31, was crossing West 17th Street at Ninth Avenue at about 7 a.m. on Feb. 28 when a 2016 Peterbilt truck turned right and ran over her, police said.

Emergency responders rushed Crosby, who suffered critical injuries to her torso, to Bellevue Hospital, police said.

The truck driver remained at the intersection, police said. No arrests have been made.

Police did not answer questions regarding whether the truck driver was operating the tractor-trailer legally in Manhattan, how long the truck was or other details regarding the crash, saying the investigation is ongoing.

A Department of Transportation truck route map shows that West 17th Street is not a local route for trucks — but also says that drivers may go onto a non-designated street "for the purpose of arriving at his/her destination."

Police announced Crosby's death the morning after two cyclists died and one was injured on New York City's streets within 13 hours — making for a death toll of 17 cyclists in 2019 alone, up from 10 in all of 2018.

Crosby is the 59th pedestrian to die in 2019 as of Tuesday, the Department of Transportation said. There were 55 pedestrian deaths at this time last year, DOT said.

Some 117 people total have died in crashes this year as of Tuesday including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and motor vehicle occupants, the DOT confirmed. At this time last year, there was a total of 101 fatalities, DOT said.

In the Tenth Precinct, where Crosby was killed, there have been 50 pedestrian injuries and 24 bicyclist injuries in 2019 as of Sunday, NYPD data shows.

Crosby's death is the second fatality in the precinct in 2019. In April, a 74-year-old cyclist was struck by a UPS freight hauler and died in June.

Earlier this month, a woman died trying to cross a busy street in Kensington, Brooklyn and another pedestrian died after being hit by a wrong-way driver in Harlem. The same week a pedestrian died of injuries from a crash in Brooklyn, Streetsblog reported.

This article has been updated with additional information from the Department of Transportation.