Pedestrian Killed Crossing Atlantic at Clinton

By on August 10, 2015 9:13 am in Brooklyn Heights, News, Traffic

According to Carroll Gardens Patch, a 66 year old man, identified as an employee of Oriental Pastry and Grocery on Atlantic Avenue, was struck and killed by an eastbound car while he was crossing Atlantic at Clinton Street at about 8:30 p.m. yesterday (Sunday, August 9). The 26 year old driver of the car remained on the scene; the cause remains under investigation.

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  • http://paulsanwald.com Paul Sanwald

    I was in Oriental Pastry and Grocery yesterday buying some things, and had a great discussion with the older gentleman who works there (or owns the place?) about jazz; He was listening to Art Blakey, and is a big jazz fan.

    My heart goes out to the victim and his family, I wonder if anyone knows whether it was the older gentleman that has worked (or owned, not sure) Oriental for 10+ years? I’ve been going there a long time and he’s always been a friendly face.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Is that the place with the two enormous cats, on the south side of Atlantic, between Yemen Cafe and Urban Outfitters?

  • http://paulsanwald.com Paul Sanwald

    yes. it’s the place closest to urban outfitters.

  • Brooklynite

    Someone was saying that it was one of the workers there (an older, heavier set man who worked there for years). I was there shortly before they put him into the ambulance. It was a horrible thing to see.

  • WillowL

    This is horrible. Just two months ago a young man in electric wheelchair was hit by a car in the very SAME place. something has to be done.

  • Greg

    This is also the intersection where Martha Atwater was killed while standing outside the bagel shop on the sidewalk:

    http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/55561

    This is clearly indicative of a larger problem.

  • WillowL

    I COULDN’T AGREE MORE.

  • MonroeOrange

    All four corners of this section are dangerous, cars making a left onto clinton, going east, constantly need to manage the steady stream of oncoming traffic and people crossing the street (with the walk sign)…cars coming up clinton through atlantic race to make the light, bc it is so short and traffic backs up all the way down clinton….they should be put a left turning arrow on clinton and also make the green longer so cars aren’t racing to make the light for cars coming up clinton.

    I have no idea what the situation here was, it may have very well have been driver error and have nothing to do with the above. But clearly this corner is a problem and has been for decades. And just wait to the increased pedestrian traffic with the ‘hospital’ high rises and pier 6 development.

    Other super dangerous block to cross is drivers making the left onto hicks off of atlantic.

  • A Neighbor

    What about making it an ‘all-green’ intersection — where all traffic stops for pedestrians to cross? That’s what they did on Court and Remsen, yes? This intersection seems far worse.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales
  • StudioBrooklyn

    :C

    I only started shopping there recently. It’s always sad to hear when a member of our community is killed. I also grieve for the young motorist, whose life will be changed by this. I can’t imagine having to live with that kind of guilt, it’s not going to be easy.

  • Jorale-man

    Well said. That intersection honestly freaks me out as a pedestrian and am always extremely vigilant when trying to navigate it. I’m always dumfounded when I see people crossing while staring at their phones, oblivious to what’s going on around them. (Not to imply this was at all what happened here.)

  • PromGal

    All the latest reports state that it was the 66 year old owner of Oriental Pastry. He was tossing the the middle of the block, and they say the driver was going 30 MPH. No way! He was thrown 20 feet.
    Atlantic Ave has always been a dangerous place to jaywalk.
    So sorry for the family. RIP.

  • http://paulsanwald.com Paul Sanwald

    thanks for sharing, Claude. This is very sad, and my heart goes out to this man’s family.

  • stuart

    many New Yorkers don’t know how to drive very well. This is a very challenging place to drive and many have little practice at it. I have been in cars driven by friends and truly, they couldn’t drive worth beans. One has to keep that in mind while crossing streets.

  • Concerned

    Too many New Yorkers are killed and maimed on a daily basis by drivers who don’t follow simple safety rules. Cars and trucks are thousands of pounds of steel machine that are in the total control of the driver. Too many drivers don’t respect human life until it’s too late. What a shame…every time!!!

  • Remsenster

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    f0fs28 cf2 cb3 expnd0expndtw0kerning0
    outl0strokewidth0 strokec2 And the police do not enforce traffic rules and the district attorneys do not prosecute drivers who maim and kill people}

  • Remsenster

    And the police do not enforce the laws and the district attorneys do not prosecute

  • Willow Street Watch

    This is terrible and its happened repeatedly in the Smith St to Hicks Street area of Atlantic. But as noted elsewhere, the roots are really two things:

    First: a lack of police visibility and enforcement.
    Second: The basic prevailing attitude of many that the area is sort of their personal playground in which you do what can get away with.

    With some of the elements frequenting that strip, they have to see police and guys being pulled over before attitudes and behaviors will change.Yes, I know that the irresponsible element is say 20% but that’s all it takes to turn a area of a major roadway, in many ways, into a dangerous environment.

    Judy Stanton, pointed out today, and its true, that because of police assassinations, there are no more cops on lone foot patrol. So one idiot from Baltimore just cut effective police coverage up to 50%. In the 60’s and early 70’s it was not unusual to have a single cop on foot see some kind of behavior and tell a guy at a light to pull it over and give the driver a ticket. But that’s out the window now. The result? Well in these two incidents, you’ve seen the result(s)….

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I disagree, I have driven in almost every state and several countries. In my opinion, New Yorkers, by enlarge, are some of the best drivers around. Of course, there are idiots as well. It is the bad driving moves that stand out and since there is a lot of traffic in NYC it can appear there are more bad drivers. If you observe all the drivers you will notice most are good.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    No pun intended, crossing the street is a two way street… Pedestrians must be aware as well. In the last 10 tears of so I have noticed a huge uptick in people walking into the street without looking, often looking at their phone….

  • Concerned

    I’m not here to say that every pedestrian is an angel. They’re not. But 1) If you’ve ever had a car coming at you at a high speed (or turning a corner), you see real quickly how “being aware” means very little. There’s no escape many times, despite what you may see in the movies. 2) the responsibility of drivers in vehicles (that are great killing machines if not in the correct hands) to follow the rules of the road to protect the entire community (and not just themselves) is more of a burden than some jay walker.

  • ShinyNewHandle

    Shoppers & businesses want Atlantic Avenue to be a pedestrian marketplace. Vehicle drivers want it to be variously an artery, a speedway, an alternative to the expressway.

    I mid-block jaywalk across those lanes all the time, because it can feel safer and more efficient (for everyone) than waiting for the crosswalk until just the moment turning cars want to cut across your path. When you both have the green.

    This accident happened around 8:30 PM? That’s a terrible time to be a pedestrian in late summer, when you can see just enough to think that drivers can see you perfectly well through the glare of their tinted windshields.

    This is neither here nor there, but a couple of days ago I saw a sporty black car, from a standing position on one side of Atlantic, do a 0-60 burning-rubber screeching U-turn to get to a parking spot on the other side of the street before advancing traffic blocked the way. (It bore the TxxxxxxC plate of a limo service.) I think it was within a block of this accident.

  • Greg

    While police enforcement is nice, by far the most effective measures are to physically design streets to make it difficult or impossible for drivers to drive recklessly. This can involve narrowed lanes, curbed medians, speed bumps, and so on.

    Speed bumps probably aren’t right for Atlantic Avenue, but I think a good narrowing of lanes or even a reduction to one lane each way (with a raised shoulder to allow emergency vehicles to pass) could work well.

    Visibility of police enforcement tends not to work very well unless it’s extremely widespread and visible. That’s always been hard for any urban police force to maintain.

  • Willow Street Watch

    Various “traffic calming concepts” are the current darlings of a well funded sector of the urban planning/NGO extra legal design world…
    and the last mayor. But a lot of these concepts have BIG downsides.
    When you restrict the privileges of all for the transgressions of a few, you discourage a lot the energy and spirit any urban area needs. Hassle the general public for a few idiots and people look for some place they feel more comfortable. This is exactly what happened to this town after WWII. And contrary to your argument, even a modest police visibility has profound effects. And one pull over and ticket writing is always seen by a large number of motorists. The traffic calming idea is exactly the agenda 21 mindset. Who needs that?

  • Willow Street Watch

    Its a total rodeo scene and 90% plus of the idiots who could care less are not from this area and they know how little enforcement….and as said above, prosecution there ever is. So of course they just do what they want!

  • Greg

    Oh no, it’s not about restricting privileges. Properly done, everyone benefits (e.g. traffic flows just as smoothly and efficiently). It just becomes hard for the the irresponsible few to be so irresponsible. That’s a great outcome when it’s done well.

    A modest police presence does not have profound effects on traffic safety, particularly in urban areas. It has to be more intense and sustained than urban police forces have ever been able to really do. It doesn’t work. Certain suburban areas likely fare better in this regard.

    The post-war migration away from NYC is very complex (I assume you mean post-50s right – there was a spike immediately after WWI). There are some really good books on the subject – I recommend Crabgrass Frontier if you don’t know it. Suffice it to say it has little to do with traffic (in that form). :)

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    You miss the point. many pedestrian deaths are caused by their own fault.
    The burden is to the jaywalker who gets killed and to the driver who now has to live with the trauma of that experience also to the people who have to clean up the mess.

  • Pierrepont

    I walked by there earlier this evening, and the steel shutters were rolled down in front of Oriental, with a note discussing the fact that they were closed for day due to the sudden passing of their brother. Many, as in at least 15, bouquets and bundles of flowers were propped up against the shudders. A very sad scene, right in the heart of our general neighborhood. My condolences to any and all of those with a connection to the man.

  • Concerned

    1) There are many points, not “the” point; 2) I understand your point and it is based upon your observing an “uptick” about pedestrians on their phones and not being “aware”, even though there’s no mention of this victim being on his phone; 3) one of my points is that pedestrians are at a disadvantage against a steel machine that is moving at a high rate of speed, and that even the most “aware” can become a victim to drivers who fail to follow basic safety rules. Get it?

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