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Uber Driver Arrested After Fatally Hitting Man in Crosswalk, NYPD Says

By Katie Honan | January 19, 2017 7:45am
 NYPD investigators at the scene of a pedestrian fatality in the intersection of 76th Street and 37th Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2016.
NYPD investigators at the scene of a pedestrian fatality in the intersection of 76th Street and 37th Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2016.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

​JACKSON HEIGHTS — An Uber driver was arrested after he struck and killed a man crossing an intersection on 37th Avenue Thursday night, police said.

Henry Boimel, 67, was walking on the south side of 76th Street and 37th Avenue when he was struck by Dinesh Bhattarai, 45, who was making a right turn onto 76th Street around 7:29 p.m., police said.

The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital with severe head injuries and was later pronounced dead. 

Bhattarai is an Uber driver but he was not using the app at the time of the crash, according to a spokeswoman for the company. 

Police said Bhattarai, who lives on the same street as the crash, was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk.  

Pedestrian safety on Jackson Heights' streets, particularly the congested 37th Avenue, was brought up multiple times at Tuesday's 115th Precinct Community Council meeting.

Many people asked for increased enforcement on 37th, 35th and 34th avenues — fearing more fatalities.

"37th Avenue is a car crash disaster waiting to happen," Cristina Furlong, the co-founder of Make Queens Safer, warned. 

She echoed statements made earlier by other residents who complained of speeding cars, specifically on 74th Street between 34th Avenue and Northern Boulevard.

Officials from the NYPD's 115th Precinct said at Tuesday's meeting that they would address the complaints with a shift in where they assigned traffic enforcement officers.

"I just can't stress enough that traffic enforcement is law enforcement," Furlong said.