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NYPD Now Says Cyclist Killed in Clinton Hill Was Riding Right Way: Report

 Friends and family set up a white Ghost Bike memorial for Davis at the corner of Classon and Lexington avenues.
Friends and family set up a white Ghost Bike memorial for Davis at the corner of Classon and Lexington avenues.
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DNAinfo/Alexandra Leon

CLINTON HILL — The NYPD has amended a crash report to say that a cyclist who was killed earlier this month in Clinton Hill was riding with traffic, not against it, a report says.

Investigators are now saying 34-year-old Lauren Davis, who was fatally struck by a car at Lexington and Classon avenues April 15, was riding northbound on Classon Avenue, according to Gothamist.  

The original police report said Davis, a Crown Heights resident, was riding against traffic on Classon Avenue when she was struck by a red Fiat.

Investigators have also been talking to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office about possible charges for the 41-year-old driver, according to Gothamist.

Representatives with the NYPD and the DA said the investigation was ongoing and that they could not confirm the crash report had been changed.

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Witness Rebecca Ballantine, who was riding behind Davis at the time of the crash, has told DNAinfo that there was no way Davis was riding against traffic.

“I definitely know Lauren passed me on my bike and she was going the same way as me,” Ballantine said. “She was being very careful, she wasn’t being reckless.”

Ballantine, a teacher at the Academy of Arts & Letters on Adelphi Street, said she was riding to work that morning from her home near the site of the crash. 

She said she was about 100 feet behind Davis when she heard the sound of the collision.

Ballantine said she saw Davis lying on the ground with blood coming from her head and her helmet still on. She was trying to get up, but looked dazed.

“She was so disoriented it was hard to watch,” Ballantine said. “We were telling her to stay still.”

Meanwhile, the driver got out of the car after a few minutes and started yelling, saying that Davis had run a red light, according to Ballantine.

“I knew then that wasn’t true,” Ballantine said, recalling how Davis had stopped at a light a few blocks down Classon Avenue. “She was yelling that out probably hoping that wasn’t her fault.”

At a memorial bike ride Sunday, Borough President Eric Adams called on the NYPD to avoid speculation about the cause of a crash until an investigation has been completed, to prevent the assumption that the cyclist was necessarily at fault.

Another cyclist, 33-year-old James Gregg of Park Slope, was killed last week as he was riding southbound on Sixth Avenue near Sterling Place when he collided with a tractor-trailer that was also moving southbound, police said.

According to the DOT's maps, Sixth Avenue is not a truck route.

The driver was issued five summonses that include driving a truck on a street that was not a designated truck route, but he has not been charged with a crime.