Two people were killed when a 31-year-old motorcyclist struck a 78-year-old woman crossing Queens Boulevard Saturday afternoon, police said. Richard York/The Forum Newsgroup
Just one day after an 8-year-old boy was killed on his way to school in Woodside, a motorcyclist and an elderly pedestrian died after the biker struck the woman crossing Queens Boulevard in Woodside on Saturday afternoon, according to the NYPD.
Darien Baker, 31, of Yonkers crashed his 2013 Suzuki motorcycle into a 78-year-old woman crossing the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 58th Street around 4:30 p.m., police said. Baker was one of about five bikers riding down the boulevard when the accident occurred, according to published reports.
Both Baker and the woman, who police did not identify, were pronounced dead at Elmhurst Medical Center, officials said.
The tragic accident happened one day after an 8-year-old boy was killed by an unlicensed driver at Northern Boulevard and 61st Street in Woodside, according to police.
Noshat Nahian, a third grade student, was walking to PS 152 with his 11-year-old sister when Mauricio Osorio-Palominos, of Newark, turned left onto Northern Boulevard and hit the boy, according to the NYPD. The two siblings were just half a block from the school when the 8-year-old was hit at the intersection that has no crossing guard.
Pedestrian deaths have become an enormous problem plaguing Queens, according to doctors and other medical professionals at a recent pedestrian injury summit held at Elmhurst Hospital.
Over the past three months, 80 pedestrians and cyclists have been admitted to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center following accidents, according to Dr. Sebastian Schubl, trauma services director at the Jamaica facility. Of the injured who arrive at the hospital because of vehicle accidents, 11 percent die, according to hospital officials.
Schubl said there has been the “highest mortality rate we’ve ever seen” in 2013 at Jamaica, and those at the conference noted that Queens and Northern boulevards are particular problems in the borough.
Saturday’s deaths came just one day after an 8-year-old boy was killed while walking to school in Woodside.
By Anna Gustafson
