New Jersey Street Blog: Justice- Dan Hanegby Murder by Coach USA Bus Driver Was found Guilty Of His Death
The charge has been leveraged infrequently since its implementation: between 12 and 70 times annually, according to Marco Conner, legislative director for Transportation Alternatives. There were 34 arrests on the charge in 2017, down from 41 in 2016, according to the city’s latest Vision Zero report.T he bus driver who killed Citi Bike rider Dan Hanegby last June was found guilty Monday of a low-level “right-of-way” charge, a small comfort for the victim’s family but at least a symbol of justice, cycling activists said.
Coach USA driver Dave Lewis was also convicted of the lesser charge, a violation for failure to exercise due care, Manhattan Judge Heidi Cesare ruled in the bench trial.
The conviction — which is rare in cases of drivers killing innocent cyclists — may not send Lewis to jail, as the top charge is a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days.
Hanegby’s widow, Sasha, cried and shook when the verdict was read and left the court quickly with lawyers, a small group of friends and family, declining to comment. But Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, issued a statement calling the verdict “a measure of justice,” in part because police initially blamed the cyclist.
“Drivers are rarely held accountable for recklessly taking lives on New York City streets,” White said. “All too often, police hastily exonerate drivers while erroneously blaming bicyclists and pedestrians for their own deaths. We implore [NYPD] Commissioner O’Neill to bring an end to this habit of victim-blaming.”
Transit activists celebrated the passage of the Right of Way Law in 2014, even though the top penalty is relatively minor: up to 30 days in jail and $500 in penalties. Previously, unless an NYPD officer witnessed a crash, most drivers had to be intoxicated in order to face consequences.
Hanegby, a 36-year-old father of two, was fatally run over on the morning of June 12, 2017, while riding a Citi Bike on West 26th Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues. Surveillance video from a nearby building, first reported by Gothamist last summer and entered into evidence in Lewis’s trail, contradicts initial police reports that Hanegby “swerved” away from a parked vehicle before fatally colliding with the bus.
These accounts that Hanegby allegedly “swerved” into the bus appeared in the New York Times and Daily News, among other outlets, adding Hanegby to a list of traffic crash victims, including Lauren Davis and James Gregg, whose deaths were inaccurately reported in their immediate aftermath.
In surveillance footage, Hanegby is seen traveling straight near the middle of the roadway, possibly because a driver had left his black SUV jutting into the roadway. The bus overtakes Hanegby as he cycles between a white commercial van parked to his right and the SUV. Lewis passes rather than slows down through the pinch point, and the side of his bus nudged Hanegby’s handlebar. The cyclist’s front wheel jerks to the right just before he falls and is crushed to death.
In his closing arguments Monday, Lewis’s lawyer Jeremy Saland said that Hanegby was “oblivious” to Lewis honking, and that Lewis’s negligence could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The over-the-ear headphones that Hanegby was wearing violate state law, Saland said.
“He’s not a bad person for this, but he was completely and totally unaware,” Saland said, of Hanegby.
Saland was also critical of key witness Lanette Perez, who sat in the front of the bus and testified that Lewis did not have room to safely pass Hanegby. Saland suggested that she “put herself front and center because she wanted to be a hero in the situation.”
In her response, Assistant District Attorney Raffaela Belizaire accused Saland of victim-blaming, and argued that Lewis’s decision to honk proved that he had “decided to pass” even though he was aware of the risk — a reading of the facts that could have earned Lewis a charge of reckless endangerment or criminally negligent homicide.
“Even if Mr. Hanegby had no hands and a blindfold on, he still had the right of way,” she said.
Belizaire said that the honking, which Lewis admitted to doing, is “the central issue in this case.”
“He honked precisely because he appreciated that the road was narrow and the cyclist could be hurt very badly.” He was, in short, aware of the risk, yet did not slow down to yield the right of way to the vehicle — Hanegby’s bike — that legally had it.
Hanegby was the first person to be killed while riding a Citi Bike since the inception of the program in 2013. An avid cyclist, he lived in Brooklyn Heights with his family and worked as a director of investment banking at Credit Suisse. He moved to the U.S. from Israel in 2000, and was once the top ranked tennis player in his home country.
Cyclist fatalities increased last year even as overall traffic fatalities decreased. Twenty-three cyclists died in 2017, a 10-year high and up from 18 in 2016. Ten cyclists have died so far this year, down from 18 over the same period last year.
Lewis was released and will be sentenced on Oct. 22. His attorney declined to comment on the ruling.
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., who has come under fire for being inconsistent in his prosecution of drivers who kill, issued a statement after the verdict, saying he hoped it “brings a small measure of closure to Mr. Hanegby’s family and friends.”
He claimed he would “keep working with advocates and government partners until Manhattan streets are significantly safer for cyclists and pedestrians.”
"Previously, unless an NYPD officer witnessed a crash...." - this archaic shit has to go. The insinuation will always be that cops are inherently honest and more reliable as witnesses than civilians, something which nobody would claim these days without expecting to be ridiculed.
But yes, I'm glad the scumbag's honk was central to his conviction. I'm sick of these psychotic bullies who tool around the city under the impression that they can pull off any kind of reckless maneuver they like as long as they give a quick toot beforehand. They need to go as well. Is there a chance of this guy ever becoming a bus driver again? If so, we should try and stop that from happening.
When it gets to civil court (and I'm sure it will) part of the conditions of the settlement should be that Mr. Lewis never again drive a motor vehicle. If he ever does, then he should be held liable for additional damages.
That's why I ride on the sidewalk IDGAF
When will the justice system realize that intentional acts like this are tantamount to murder. If you want to get rid of your spouse/significant other for some reason, buy them a bike and wait for your opportunity. Damn, this is ridiculous.
ONE F-MONTH IN JAIL??? AAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... MOTHER F@KER... RO HIS ASS IN JAIL... MURDERER SOB
This discussion has veered away from the most critical reasons why Dan was killed to whether he had it coming because of his headphones, not dissimilar to dissecting sexual assault victim's clothing or lack of.
Let's talk more about the size of the bus on city streets, unsafe speed limits in areas with high pedestrian and bicycle presence, and driver's unwillingness to wait to pass. Apparently the driver did not even stop=in the video there's no sign of the bus after he runs over the cyclist.
The delivery van, parked too far out in the traffic lane,two feet away from the curb. This parking position further squeezed what was already a narrow lane, because of parking on both sides of the one lane road, (so riding on the left side would not necessarily prevent dooring, much less being turned into by drivers not looking for cyclists on the left.)
Commercial driving licenses and standard ones must include safety rules for cyclists and pedestrians, not just other motor vehicle traffic.
Reckless endangerment, vehicular manslaughter, these are more appropriate charges than violating his right of way.
There considerations anyone should take in when using a headphone while riding is that one of your senses in which you use to provide information to make a judgement on surroundings and a possibly safety threat is no longer available to you. Some headphones would block enough sound to prevent emergency sires with those vehicles specifically violating traffic laws for an emergency. As for wearing a headphone in a single ear, you reduce your ability to determine the direction of a sound due to Doppler effect. I would advise anyone riding to not use headphones and external speakers are more than fine if you feel the need to have music while riding.
As for this accident, I can't agree with homicide charge at that requires the specific intent to kill, unless evidence like a altercation prior to was present, or the driver was knowing impaired and yet decided that the public safety was of no concern. I could certainly see manslaughter charges as the driver did make the pass at an unsafe distance.
As for road riding safety, the safest on this particular road is in the middle and is perfectly legal here. The cyclist is in no way required to yield to vehicles in smaller side streets as such. Driver education is sorely lacking in this country, I hope we can update that in the near future, but especially in states where conditions like NYC are present.
He'll be back, honking and rolling for some other bus or trucking company. He'll have a little sticker of a bike on his cap, and everything will be all right.
Apparently his license will be suspended for 6 months, hopefully starting the day after he finishes prison, and will have to complete an accident prevention program.
He should lose his license for good.
He should certainly lose at least his CDL for good. If we had sane laws, anyone responsible for killing or seriously injuring a person would never drive again.
Couldn’t the judge have at least made his two sentences consecutive instead of concurrent so at least he’d serve an extra 15 days?
Maybe, but studies have consistently shown that what deters criminal behavior is the certainty of punishment, and not its severity. So what we should be complaining about is not this specific case, but the thousands of cases where drivers pass unsafely with impunity.
Slight nit: Hanegby's riding was completely legal, but not by dint of state law. The state law that one might think would apply here is nys 1234, which requires riders to ride as far right as practicable (modulo obstacles, preparing for a left turn, etc.), but these parts of 1234 are completely superseded in NYC.
The relevant law in NYC is RCNY 4-12 (p), which requires riders to ride as far right or left as practicable on a >= 40-foot-wide, one-way roadway. RCNY is actually completely silent on where to ride on roads less than 40 feet wide (or on two-way roads, for that matter), and state law 1234 still doesn't apply. On a street like West 26th in its old configuration, any lane position is completely legal.
And even if the road were >= 40 feet, a far-right or far-left path of travel is fine.
Agree with this analysis. Because of the potential dooring hazard from the two cars parked illegally far from the north and south curbs, Hanegby had every reason to take the lane and no law prohibited him from doing so.
For all their imperfections, this is exactly the situation protected lanes prevent. Like commenters here and elsewhere have suggested, I get ahead of traffic at red lights and take the lane if there is an obstruction anywhere in the next block to avoid merging. But many crosstown streets here are too wide for a bike to hold traffic, but the clear path is too narrow for safe overtakes, and I occasionally get passed unsafely by aggressive drivers.
"Vance’s office said it could not comment while the trial is ongoing." - Cy Vance is an impotent piece of shit who has no interest whatsoever in doing his job properly or procuring justice for New Yorkers. Like so many in our rotten layers of criminal "justice," he's just biding his time until he can retire to Florida on his massive taxpayer funded pension and get the beach house with the jetski etc. FL is chock full of NYC retirees who are living it up after a lifetime of incompetence and privilege.
Wow that is some disgusting shit. Manslaughter all the way. 10 years in jail sounds about right. FUCK all of the people who have been watching this video over the last couple of days and saying things like "ooo they were both at fault" and "mmm close call....who knows." Are they watching the same fucking video? Dan did absolutely NOTHING WRONG! I've been reading all kinds of JERK comments about this video on Gothamist from people saying it was partly his fault, that he was "distracted," that he shouldn't have been "checking out that chick on the sidewalk," that his headphones were to blame etc.
I saw NOTHING about Dan's actions in that video that even hint that he contributed to his own death. So he looked to the right momentarily. BIG FUCKING DEAL! BIIIIIIIG FUCKING DEAL! Does that mean he was distracted, and that if he'd been looking straight ahead the bus wouldn't have hit him? Of course it doesn't, and fuck anyone who even suggests this!
I've also heard people say that he "swerved" around the van. No he fucking didn't! He passed it at a very shallow angle that in no way shape or form could be described as "swerving into the bus's path."
Ditto the headphones. There is no evidence that he was listening to music loud enough to drown out the sound of a bus or a honk.
THE BUS DRIVER WAS 100% AT FAULT AND HIS ACTIONS SNUFFED OUT THE LIFE OF A HUMAN BEING. All of Dan's history, his childhood, his education, everything he worked for, all of his hopes and dreams, obliterated in less than a second by a piece of shit bottom feeding reckless illegally operating menace to human life who should have NEVER EVER been hired as a bus driver. That this guy is now trying to minimize the consequences for himself, when those consequences are a THOUSANDTH of what he should have inflicted upon him, leave no doubt in my mind that he is SCUM. In the absence of real justice, we can only hope that at some point in the future, a reckless driver takes him out as well. THAT would be justice.
In the absence of real justice, we can only hope that at some point in the future, a reckless driver takes him out as well. THAT would be justice.
And the police declare "no criminality suspected" before the body is even cold. Justice served!
If there had been a motor vehicle in front of Dave Lewis' bus, he would have honked in anger/frustration/impatience and then waited. (Anger/frustration/impatience is not the use that a horn is designed for; a horn is supposed to be for safety purposes.) Dave Lewis would not have wanted to damage his vehicle by hitting another vehicle. And if he hit another vehicle, he knew that vehicle would have an insurance company representing it that would do battle against his own insurance company, possibly resulting in higher premiums or paying a deductible. But because he knew his vehicle would not be damaged in a collision with a cyclist, he honked and then proceeded to hit the cyclist.
What did bus driver Dave Lewis think would be the outcome of his honk?? When there is no space and no where to go, where David Lewis possibly think that Dan Hanegby would be able to go as a result of the honk?
What exactly does that mean, "A horn is for safety purposes?"
Exactly. Imagine being sat in your car and a bus smashes into your rear end. You get out and the bus driver says "Not my fault buddy. I sounded my horn".
It never ceases to amaze me how drivers expect their horn to just clear the way. They honk incessantly (and futilely) in gridlock, as though they expect all the other vehicles to just evaporate. This driver expected to honk Dan out of his way, and consequently killed him. I'm curious--have drivers attempted to honk each other out of the way without braking, and used that as a defense for smashing into another vehicle?
What happens if a pedestrian, bicyclist, scooter, etc. "in the way" of a driver is deaf or hard of hearing? That's yet another reason why honking cannot be relied on. If someone hears the honking, great, but drivers should give them time to react. If deaf/hoh/ear buds/etc., then you just have to wait a few extra seconds for the vulnerable road user (VRU) to clear the way. A few extra seconds or jail(maybe), take your pick.
These reckless bus drives get away with murder. Coach USA bus driver can kill someone and do not be held accountable. It's sad that his man cannot go home to his family but the bus drive can. This family have to plan for a burial on a death that could have been prevent. A bus drive must stay focus on his during as a professional driver. Please check out this petition https://www.change.org/p/st...
Death by misadventure. Enough space already allotted to bike lanes in midtown.
Simple enforcement of traffic laws for all vehicles needs to be improved. By the way does the good councilman receive any contributions from the construction companies of these traffic stalling islands and lanes?
There is no space allocated to bike lanes. There are a few bike lanes, but vehicles encroach into them, making them a joke.
Simple -- need "bumps" between bike lanes and car lanes so that it is clear where the biker is and where the car isn't. Impatient car and truck drivers don't see or think -- they just want to make it through the next light and they negligently, by accident, encroach on the bike lanes. They routinely speed by at 35 to 40 MPH a biker doing 10 or 15. One negligent nudge on the handlebars and there is a serious injury or in this case death. Those little cement or steel bumps would be a friendly reminder that they are deviating to where they should not be.
Finally, double parking should be a points violation. That will get the attention of impatient delivery truck and taxi drivers.
Fine.
Let a registration fee on
all bikes pay for it
No problem with that (bikes paying for bike lanes). And licensing for bike riders. But that doesn't absolve all people from being rude and scaring pedestrians or bike riders. That's essentially what happened with this driver here -- trying to squeeze on through next to a fat dumb and happy bike rider who obviously had no idea he was about to be passed by inches.
Imagine it was your wife or daughter on that bike next time and you are a stranger gunning it for the traffic light to get home and you scared her and she _almost_ falls as you passed by. You get karma points for protecting the bike riders and pedestrians and lose them for every bike rider, little old lady or tourist (pedestrian) that you scare. Consideration is what is needed in a busy world where getting there is more important that civility. This poor schmuck who was killed was also a father of two and he's not coming home. That's the ultimate negative karma.
Bike riders need to be considerate too (especially delivery people) and not scare pedestrians or cut off cars when the light is not theirs. It's basic human decency and it is lacking because everyone is in a hurry to get there. Everyone is barreling along at maximum speed. So you're five minutes late. Big deal. You make the city a better place.
Yeah, follow the money. I'm sure there's a lot of people getting rich off of painting bike lanes and installing pedestrian islands. Rather than, say, building, maintaining, and repaving streets for cars.
Or maybe not. gothamist.com has acquired a video and an eye witness that may show the NYPD account of this horror isn't necessarily true.
http://gothamist.com/2017/0...
Campaign contributions to the "good councilman" are a public record. How about looking up and giving us some facts instead of posting cutesy, snarky innuendo?
I too remember the perfect smoothness of driving in NYC traffic that ended abruptly and for no other conceivable reason when they put in pedestrian islands and bike lanes.
Traffic flows on Manhattan avenues was far bettet.
Now often one lane is opetational with massive bottlenecks. One cannot help but think this is the dot agenda to introduce congestion pricing just as it appears the real estate firm that controls citibike wants either subsidies or a massive buy out by the mta.
It's all politics and greed.
Ask the good councilman.
I think the TriLateral Commission and Free Masonry caused all the massive bottlenecks.
Unable to simply state an argument resorting to absurd analogies does not prove your point.
The bike lanes are a major revenue source for some contractors and citi bike is owned by a major realestate company who hired a former head of the mta to run it. Now citibike is seeking public funding and it may be the mta buys it.
Just politics and greed.
Yes, greed is indeed the word I'd use - to describe someone who unwilling to give up even a small fraction of 1% of the city's street space to cyclists, in a city in which the majority of residents don't even own cars.
Not to mention that your assertion that bike lanes are responsible for traffic congestion is simply not supported by the facts. The congestion that you encounter while driving is almost entirely caused by other drivers. You could be productive by driving less or by advocating for policies to persuade others to drive less - or you can pretend that the problem is somebody else's fault, which is apparently the approach you've taken.
Incidentally, what does any of this have to do with the bus driver who killed Dan Hanegby?
I don't drive. So much for your myopic world view of us v them. The cyclist community is like the mouse that roared taking resources far in excess to its numbers and parading arrogant disdain for civility. It is that attitude of unwarranted entitlement that contributes to unfortnate incidents on our streets and sidewalks.
I've lived in NYC all of my 54+ years. Traffic flow in Manhattan was always bad. The reason has always been the same—not charging enough for parking or entry into Manhattan. If you want free traffic flow congestion pricing is one of only two answers which will enable it. The other answer is to ban private automobiles in Manhattan, which is the solution I personally support. Private autos are what causes most of your traffic congestion, not bikes. Manhattan is easily the most stupid place to drive a private automobile anyway when you have a bunch of other ways to enter the island.
90%+ of the people entering Manhattan do so by means other than private auto. If you drive a delivery truck or other essential vehicle then you should support measures to make it more expensive and less convenient for those in private autos to drive.
It's all politics and greed.
By the auto lobby which foisted automobiles on NYC in the first place. NYC was never designed for the number of automobiles which currently enter it. You can thank the auto lobby for free parking and lack of appropriate street pricing. Without those things a lot fewer people would choose to drive in NYC.
Traffic is worse because more people are driving. It's not harder to grasp than that. None of these bike lanes had to take a traffic lane; it was the insistence on maintaining on-street parking that created any kind of crunch.
50,000 Ubers circulating NYC. . . . duh. . .
NYPD's reports don't seem to ask the obvious question: why was a tour bus trying to pass a bike on one of those streets? There is absolutely not enough space to do so safely. And... if the biker did anything wrong, it was allowing the bus to squeeze past.
I hate how accustomed I've become to NYPD's brutal inhumanity whenever a cyclist is injured or killed.
Anyway, now I'm wondering what are the legal implications in NYC of passing a cyclist too close on a one-way street, clipping his handlebars and running him over? Is it... nothing?? That can't be.
Also wondering: how soon can DOT put the crosstown bike lanes we clearly need in place? The awful part of waiting till someone dies is that nothing that we do now to fix things can make the family whole again. It's so heartbreaking. We still need an immediate, compassionate policy response.
he awful part of waiting till someone dies is that nothing that we do now to fix things can make the family whole again.
A whole lot of "memorial" bike lanes. So pathetic this city.
My god once again the NYPD and DA's office conspire to commit a gross miscarriage of justice, besmirch an innocent dead man, and do their level best to make sure a severely negligent driver faces no consequence whatsoever for snuffing out someone's life. At this point I think you'd be hard pressed to deny that they are actively conniving to make NYC roads as dangerous as possible for pedestrians and cyclists. That's really the only logical conclusion you can come to based on their willful refusal to prosecute anyone for these manslaughters.
Imagine how different their response to this fatality would have been if the victim had been a cop cycling to work (almost completely unlikely I know). Oh boy you'd see the wheels of justice turning then. They would have had that driver in cuffs as soon as they arrived on the scene, and hundreds of them would have showed up in their uniforms to stare him down at his manslaughter trial.
What about a petition to get the entire department replaced? I mean the whole thing from root to branch, gutted and replaced with intelligent, honest human beings with a civil sense of justice.
An important companion to this story:
http://gothamist.com/2017/0...
This is a huge scandal and ought to be treated as such by every major news outlet in this city.
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