Death rides two wheels in NYC as eight die in seven grim days on motorcycles, e-bikes, scooters, mopeds

Eight New Yorkers were killed in seven grim days while riding motorcycles, e-bikes, scooters or mopeds — the deadliest week of 2023 for those traveling on two wheels. The string of tragedies began Aug. 3, when .

“He used it as his therapy,” said the victim’s sister Carolina Rodriguez in a tearful interview with the Daily News. “He’d say, ‘I’ll just glide to work today. ’” Quintana, a manager at the Loew’s Hotel on the Upper East Side, was heading south on the Henry Hudson Parkway near W.

145th St. in Harlem when a speeding grey BMW hit him from behind just before 11 p. m.

, according to police. Thrown from the bike, Quintana landed in the parkway’s center lane and was run over by a speeding black Mercedes Benz. Neither car stopped, and police suspect the two luxury vehicles were drag racing down the West Side thoroughfare.

“Not one of them had the remorse to stay behind,” said Rodriguez, speaking outside her brother’s Inwood apartment building. She described her brother as a hardworking man who left behind a wife and six children. “His son walked [the bike] out to him that night,” she said.

“And I remember he even said, ‘Dad, there was an accident a few hours ago on the same highway. Just be very careful please. ’” “He promised him he was going to be careful,” Rodriguez said between tears.

“He always made sure he was protected. He had his helmet, his gloves, his vest on. He was never one to drive crazy.

” “They took a family man — a hardworking family man,” Rodriquez cried. “[His] 6-year-old is very sad. He keeps asking for his dad.

” So far this year, 26 motorcyclists have died on New York City streets, and another fifteen people were killed riding e-bikes. Nine other two-wheel fatalities involved what the city calls “other motorized” devices — a catch-all category including stand-up e-scooters and illegal mopeds. In total — including the eight deaths in the seven-day stretch — 50 riders have died on motorized two-wheelers in 2023, while six died aboard traditional, pedal-powered bicycles.

In 2022, city data reports 44 motorized bike deaths for the entire year. The deaths come amid growing concerns over the safety of motorized micromobility. A review of city data last month by The News found that, excluding registered motorcycles, .

Quintana’s death was just the start of a dark and deadly week. Barely an hour after Quintana’s crash — minutes before midnight on Aug. 3 — Roman Mikirtichev, 19, died in Queens aboard a borrowed Suzuki motorcycle after smashing into a Nissan at 64th St.

and 58th Road in Maspeth. “It’s hard, so very hard,” said Mikirtichev’s mother Marina Dashevskaya through tears. “Every morning I go to his bedroom to see if he is sleeping.

” Dashevskaya, 40, sat on her son’s bed last week as mourners visited the home, where a small memorial paid homage to Roman. He was in his third year of studying finance at Pace University, she said. Dashevskaya said she’d warned her son against riding motorcycles, but he borrowed one from a friend anyway.

“He always dreamed of riding a motorcycle,” she said “We said ‘Never, ever a motorcycle. ’ We even bought him a car. But in the end, it was his dream.

He never had a driver’s license to ride a motorcycle. He never had any experience riding a motorcycle. ” The driver of the Nissan stayed on the scene, according to police, and no charges were filed.

Two days later — on Aug. 5, a Saturday — 35-year-old George Felipe-Hernandez was killed on Jerome Ave. in the Bronx when the driver of a Nissan Murano struck his motorcycle while making a U-turn at Goble Place in Mount Eden, police said.

Felipe-Hernandez was ejected from his bike, landed in the roadway and declared dead on the scene. “We’re in mourning, we’re in disbelief, we’re in shock,” said family friend Emylis Lozano, 43. “He was a very honorable, humble man, a very dedicated dad.

” The following day — Aug. 6, a Sunday — saw three riders killed in the early morning hours. Kallyn Jean, 33, an MTA track worker and new father, died , police said.

Jean was riding in the Laurelton section of Queens when hit by an unknown vehicle turning onto 233th St. from 125th Ave. The force of the impact knocked him from his bike, and his body discovered under a nearby parked van.

“He loved being a new dad. That was his thing. He loved it,” said Anne Ceant, a friend of the victim since they were teens.

He was the light of everyone around him. He would give you the shirt off his back if you asked. “If you had any problem you’d call him.

He was just a phone call away. ” Less than three hours after Jean was hit, 21-year-old Khalif Fox was killed in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn when his electric moped was around 4:25 a. m.

Police said Fox was hit with enough force to send his KSR Moto TTX into a parked Hyundai Sonata. Fox crashed into a nearby building before he died a short time later at Kings County Hospital. Security camera footage taken near the intersection — and obtained by The News — shows a car moving at apparent high speed down Marcus Garvey Blvd.

as a man on a moped rolls into the frame. The man is seen thrown into the air on impact. He remains airborne as he flies out of frame, and sparks fly from beneath the Infiniti as it drags the moped down the street.

No charges were filed against the driver. A half-hour later on Aug. 6 — at about 4:55 a.

m. — Amikar Armondo Marquez-Larez was struck by a white Honda CRV and thrown the pavement while riding his gas-powered moped along 50th Ave. in Corona, Queens.

Marquez-Larez, 37, was pronounced dead at nearby Elmhurst Hospital, and authorities said the driver of the white Honda fled the scene. On Monday evening, Saad Mohammed, 18, was zipping west on 89th Ave. in Jamaica on his stand-up electric scooter when crossing the avenue.

The teen fell before he was run over by the bus, cops said, and was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. . Mariano Leonardo Victoriano, 30, climbed aboard his e-bike in the Bronx around 5:30 a.

m. , his aunt Angelica Victoriano told The News, bound for his job at Alimentos de mi Tierra Miami, a meat factory on Craven St. Seven minutes later, he was run over by a dump truck at the intersection of Tiffany Street and Barry Street, according to police.

Victoriano was riding in a shared bike lane alongside the truck when it made a right-hand turn at the intersection, clipping the factory worker in the process. Victoriano fell before he was run over by the dump truck, police said. Though the incident was initially reported as a hit-and-run, police said the truck stopped a short time later and no charges were filed against the driver.

“When he did not make it to work that day, I called him,” said Victoriano’s cousin, Pricilliano Leonardo Reyes, who also works at the factory. “The police picked up the phone and that’s how we got to know about the accident. ” Victoriano had been living with his aunt after arriving in New York from Mexico a year and a half ago.

“He had started working at this factory 3 [or] 4 months ago,” she said. “He never wanted an e-bike but he had to get one because his workplace was not directly accessible by train or bus, and cars are very expensive here. ” Angelica Victoriano said her nephew left his parents and his two sons, aged 10 and 12, behind when he came to New York.

“He was a happy-go-lucky guy. Very family-oriented,” she said. “His only dream was to build his own house in Mexico and run a small business.

It’s all gone now. ”.