EAST FLATBUSH — A cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries when he appeared to ride into a busy intersection and get struck by a car Thursday morning, according to police and dramatic video of the incident.
The 35-year-old cyclist, whose name wasn't immediately released, rode south past several cars stopped on Utica Avenue at Empire Boulevard about 7 a.m. and continued into flowing traffic, according to officials and video of the crash.
The driver of the white car, who was heading east on Empire Boulevard, struck the cyclist midway through the intersection before slowing down, the video shows.
"He wasn't moving or anything," said Hesham Noman, 25, who works at nearby Empire Deli and came outside when he heard the impact.
"I saw the guy laying on the floor. Somebody was trying to move him, turn him over to give him CPR. I don't know if he was breathing or not, but he wasn't moving," Noman said.
The cyclist, who was bleeding from his head, was treated at Kings County Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition, an FDNY spokesman said.
The driver, whose identity wasn't released, stayed at the scene and wasn't immediately arrested or charged, police said.
NYPD officials originally described the car as a taxi based on the first reports they received, an NYPD spokesman said. But the later report by Highway investigators doesn't describe the car as a for higher vehicle and the Taxi and Limousine Commission said they had no record of it.
Officers taped off the intersection, blocking traffic through the area, while detectives combed the scene. They could be seen hunched over a green bicycle, the front wheel of which had been torn off and lay about 10 feet away.
DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith
The white car's right hand mirror was dangling off and the bottom right corner of the windshield was cratered in after the crash.
The car was recently cited for illegally parking outside 434 E. 22nd St. in Flatbush and fined $90, records show.
Six cyclists have been injured at that intersection since 2009, according to the city's Vision Zero map.
