Motorcyclist Thrown from BQE

By on September 10, 2011 2:11 am in Brooklyn Heights, News, Traffic

Photo by M. Hermann/BHB

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding an accident that occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the westbound lanes of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Initial reports indicate that a motorcyclist was going at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the bike near the curve after the Columbia Heights overpass and was thrown over the guardrail to Furman St. below. Police and Fire Department units responded to the scene to treat the injured person who was transported to Lutheran Medical Center in serious condition. The NYPD Accident Investigation Squad was interviewing witnesses, including other motorcyclists, on the expressway.

UPDATE: The victim, identified as Nelson Perez, 48, was pronounced dead at Lutheran Medical Center.

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  • Emily

    Smoke, fire engines, firemen in our building on Grace Court say electrical fire on BQE. Stay inside b/c of carbon monoxide

  • Elmer Fudd

    What do you call a person who drives or rides a motorcycle at excessive rates of speed?

    An organ donor.

  • WillowtownCop

    I was on Adams recently on my little scooter when a pack of idiots on crotch rockets blew past me going twice as fast as the cars they were weaving in and out of. When I got off the bridge there was one lying in the intersection of Chambers and Centre. Its rider was standing there scratching his head trying to figure out how that happened.

  • Elizabeth I

    if health insurance is not mandatory and this guy doesn’t have any then you and I will be paying for his hospital stay.

    What would the Tea Party like us to do, leave him bleeding on the street? His right not to have insurance!

  • http://www.marchermann.com weegee

    @Emily – There was an electrical fire on the eastbound deck of the BQE that brought out an FD response shortly after the accident investigation got underway. No connection, though.

  • Eddyenergizer

    Reminds me of a horrific motorcycle accident I saw on a warm April night back in 08. I was on the Major Deegan heading back to the city when just north of Van Cortland Park, traffic suddenly slowed to a crawl. Two cars were stopped on the left shoulder but appeared undamaged. A man was pacing in tight circles, yelling into his cellphone and flailing one arm. Then the left lane became strewn with lumps of bloody flesh, indiscernible as to what specific body parts they were but gruesomely evident. Fifty yards or so further on, lay the bike… Apparently, the guy was going over a hundred miles per hour, lost control, went airborne, struck a lamppost on the center median and was split in two… No donor-able parts from the rider but the bike looked rebuildable.

  • AEB

    Elizabeth 1: You some kind of socialist?! Or something?

  • http://inklake.typepad.com Peter

    Gothamist is reporting that the guy died.

    Speeding motorcyclist loses control – kills self, and injures no-one else? Call me a misanthrope – but these stories make me smile.

  • Heightsguy

    AEB: I guess you think calling someone a socialist ends the conversation about health care.

  • Willow St. Neighbor

    Heightsguy,
    The next sentence reads “Or something” which pretty much, in my honest opinion, is an opening for anyone to jump in and join a discussion about healthcare if one chooses to do so.

  • AEB

    Heightsguy, I was being facetious. Considered posting a smiley face, but thought better of it. I was mocking the reflexive response of certain members of the body politic.

  • Johny

    Nelson was a friend of mine for over 30 years… He will be truly missed

  • Knight

    @Johny: if I may ask, where did Nelson work? I worked with someone of the same name and wonder if if it’s the same guy.

  • Knight

    @Elizabeth I: yes. What is your point?

  • Dave ‘Paco’ Abraham

    why wasn’t he taken to Long Island College Hospital/ SUNY Downstate just a few blocks away and instead went to Sunset Park’s Lutheran Hospital? might that delay have made horrible injuries become fatal?