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Cyclist Hit by Truck at Same Site Where Biker Was Killed 10 Days Ago: NYPD

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | April 11, 2017 8:26am | Updated on April 11, 2017 2:48pm

 The cyclist was hit by the large truck as it tried to make a turn, police said.
The cyclist was hit by the large truck as it tried to make a turn, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

SUNNYSIDE — A cyclist was seriously hurt when a box truck hit him as it tried to make a turn Tuesday morning at an intersection where another cyclist was killed just 10 days before, officials said.

The white truck was heading east on 43rd Avenue, but tried to turn right onto 39th Street and hit a 27-year-old man riding his bike along 43rd in the same direction about 7 a.m., according to the NYPD and FDNY.

"The guy was on the ground in the crosswalk. A police officer was talking to him, but he wasn't really responding," said Louis Baldez, 40, who saw the aftermath.

"He wasn't bleeding from anywhere that I could see. He was moving his leg a little. The police officer was telling him not to move," Baldez said.

The bicyclist, who was put in a neck brace, was treated at Elmhurst Hospital and was listed in serious condition, officials said.

The truck's driver, Francis O'Brien, 61, was arrested at the scene and charged with failure to yield to a bicyclist and failure to exercise due care, police said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with this cyclist and we wish for his speedy recovery," said Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the area on the city council.

"We cannot tolerate a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorist being killed or seriously injured while traveling," Van Bramer added.

Baldez said the intersection is exceptionally dangerous as drivers regularly speed through it.

"It turns red and people run it anyway. Three cars will still go by. They don't care," Baldez said.

Cyclist Gelasio Reyes, of Corona, was killed when drunken Cristian Guiracocha, 25, fatally struck him with his Ford Escape before fleeing the scene about 2:53 a.m. April 1, police said.

Police found Guiracocha, of Woodside, about four hours later covered in vomit sitting in his damaged car while texting outside Brian's Auto Shop at 51-04 58 Place, prosecutors said.

Guiracocha, whose license was suspended on Jan. 28, 2014 after he was convicted for driving while under the influence, was arrested again for driving while intoxicated, driving without a license and refusing to take a breathalyzer, police and prosecutors said.

Guiracocha was released after he paid his $100,000 bail on April 2, records show. He's due back in court on Friday, records show.

Guiracocha's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.

Five cyclists were injured at the same intersection in 2014, according to the city's Vision Zero map.

The city map doesn't show any injuries or fatalities to either pedestrians or cyclists there in the years since then.