Abdul Bashar
New York City, d. 8.September.2019,
killed while worling.
Abul Bashar, 62, was working as a delivery cyclist for Kanan Indian
Restaurant in Gowanus when a garbage truck driver fatally struck him
while he was on his e-bike on the night of September 8th.
(Streetsblog reports that the driver was ultimately ticketed for
failure to yield.) Abul sustained head trauma, and succumbed to his
injuries ten days later. “He was one of the most friendliest guys.
Whenever you asked him for something he never hesitated,” said Rick
Tang, a Kanan staffer. “It’s very sad for us, all of us.” Abul, who
lived in the Bronx, had started working full-time for Kanan in June,
according to his former manager. Attempts to reach his wife and son
were not successful. According to the Daily News, Bashar and his
family immigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh.
From - 2019. Was An Extremely Deadly Year For NYC Cyclists Here Are
Their Stories, (BY EMMA WHITFORD), Gothamist, December 17, 2019.
NYPD Secretly Alters Victim-Blaming Narrative of Death of E-Bike
Rider and Charges Trucker
By Julianne Cuba
Streetsblog, Oct 18, 2019
Police have been caught in yet another rush to blame the cyclist
victim of a fatal traffic crash, this time quietly amending a report
that had initially blamed an electric bike rider for his own death
so that the official record now points out that the rider was doing
nothing wrong before he was hit and killed by the driver of a
massive truck.
In the latest instance of police victim-blaming, the NYPD quietly
amended the preliminary report of the Sept. 8 crash, when
62-year-old MD Abul Bashar was run over and killed by a private
sanitation truck driver in Gowanus. Initially, cops said Bashar was
“traveling north on the east sidewalk” on Third Avenue when he “did
exit the sidewalk” and was struck by the driver of a Mack dump truck
owned by a Brooklyn-based private carting firm.
But police later corrected themselves to say that Bashar, a delivery
cyclist who worked for a nearby restaurant, was actually doing what
he was supposed to be doing — riding on the street and traveling
with a green light — when he was fatally run over by the truck at
12th Street. Bashar died from his injuries 10 days later.
“Lastly this amended report is to reflect that the victim was
operating an e-bike north on 3rd Avenue (not on sidewalk) and while
entering the intersection of 12th Street he was struck by vehicle #2
making a left turn from south bound 3rd avenue to east bound 12th
street,” the report, which was uploaded to the state’s Department of
Motor Vehicles website, says.
And there’s even video to back it up, according to the report.
“Collision is substantiated by video recovered from vicinity of the
scene,” it says.
Still, nearly all media outlets regurgitated cops’ victim-blaming
narrative.
“Bashar…was riding north on Third on the sidewalk and drove into the
crosswalk, at which point he collided with the truck’s front
bumper,” the Daily News wrote, citing the police report.
It’s not the first time the NYPD’s initially false press release led
to a media narrative that absolved a driver for recklessness.
“Whether victim blaming happens unintentionally or not the effect is
the same: it compounds the suffering from traffic violence for
victims and loved ones. NYPD is fully aware of their tendency to
routinely engage in victim blaming and there is no excuse for this
practice,” said Marco Conner of Transportation Alternatives.
Blaming Bashar for his death only perpetuates the fear-mongering
narrative that e-bike riders — most of whom are low-income immigrant
men of color — are reckless and dangerous and need to be stopped,
remarks repeated again and again by Mayor de Blasio despite the
city’s own data proving otherwise.
“How the NYPD misled the public and media about Abul Bashar’s death
is reprehensible by first explaining away the deadly crash through
the combination of two harmful depictions: victim-blaming cyclists
for their deaths and painting immigrant delivery workers as being
unlawful,” said Do Lee of Biking Public Project.
And the initial police report went even further to absolve the
killer driver, 32-year-old Robert Blakenship — reportedly an
off-duty firefighter working a second job — saying that Blakenship,
who was traveling southbound on Third Avenue, made the left turn
onto 12th Street “with the traffic signal in its favor.”
The amended report confirms that Blakenship did have a green light,
but fails to point out that Bashar did too and had the right of way
because he was continuing straight on Third Avenue while Blakenship
was turning. Blakenship was issued a summons for failing to yield,
according to the amended report. An NYPD spokesman did not respond
to a request for comment about why it initially blamed Bashar for
his death.
The victim-blaming lie that Bashar was riding on the sidewalk is
certainly not the first time police have tried to shift fault to
anyone but the driver — most recently, cops called out a 73-year-old
pedestrian for walking “outside the crosswalk” when he was struck
and killed by a Brooklyn driver last week even though there is
actually no crosswalk at the intersection; in April, police quickly
blamed a 26-year-old cyclist for his own death, saying he “fell into
the side of the truck;” and three years ago, cops later admitted
their error when they at first wrongly accused 34-year-old cyclist
Lauren Davis of biking against traffic when she was struck and
killed by a turning driver.
And not only does the victim-blaming speak to cops’ indifference
towards cyclists and especially e-bikers, it also again highlights
the dangers of the rogue private carting industry, whose drivers
have killed more than two dozen people since 2010.
“Let’s be clear, these tragic accidents are happening as a result of
the lack of accountability of the private sanitation industry and a
race to the bottom model that puts our communities and workers at
risk everyday,” said Maritza Silva-Farrell, Executive Director of
ALIGN.
The City Council is expected to vote on a bill by the end of the
month that would finally reform the industry by limiting the number
of haulers that can pick up commercial waste in each zone to three,
ending the current free-for-all with as many as 50 private carting
companies racing through the streets to collect trash from their
business clients, and hopefully cutting down on cut-throat
competition by overworked, barely regulated truck drivers.
The FDNY said it is not investigating the incident, nor did it
suspend Blakenship, who was off-duty at the time.
