No Charges Filed in Death of Pedestrian Struck by Car in Peekskill
An investigation is ongoing in the death of a 78-year-old Peekskill man who was struck by a motor vehicle Sunday at approximately 3:30 p.m. on the 400 block of Washington Street.
According to Peekskill Police Chief Donald Halmy, Peekskill patrol units found the unidentified man lying in the middle of Washington Street unresponsive with what appeared to be a critical injury. CPR was started and Peekskill Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported the injured party to Westchester Medical Center, where he died from his injuries approximately two hours later.
Westchester County Department of Public Safety was asked to respond to assist with the accident reconstruction and investigation. Halmy said the driver of the vehicle has not yet been charged.
Peekskill Walks, a resident-led group working to make city’s streets safer, more interesting and accessible for everyone, responded to the incident by calling for road improvements for pedestrians.
“We are heartbroken that a neighbor died while simply walking in our city,” the group stated. “We’re waiting for details, but we already know that Washington Street isn’t safe or welcoming and needs to be redesigned for everyone, especially our most vulnerable. We need better sidewalks, shorter crossing distances, more streetlights, improved sight-lines and additional crosswalks, along with increased traffic enforcement along Washington and elsewhere throughout Peekskill. We ask the city and county to move forward with these upgrades, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing police investigation into this incident. Some of these will take time and money, but others — like crosswalks — can be implemented quickly and cheaply.”
“We don’t know the specifics of this case, but we do know that just about every traffic death is preventable through better street design and enforcement,” the group added. “Everyone is impacted by unsafe streets — pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike — and we must work together to prevent future tragedies. We will keep this victim in our thoughts as we advocate for a safer Peekskill.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/