BROOKLYN, New York — A New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) truck struck and killed a 30-year-old woman on Wednesday evening, October 28, at the intersection of Cropsey Avenue and Bay Parkway in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn, the New York Police Department said. The woman was later identified as Siobhan Lynch, 30.
Source: WABC Eyewitness News
According to police, Lynch was crossing Bay Parkway from the southwest corner to the southeast corner — coming from the Bensonhurst Park side — at about 6:40 p.m., just after sunset, when the sanitation truck, travelling eastbound on Cropsey Avenue, struck her as it made a right turn onto Bay Parkway. Streetsblog New York City, which also reported the police account, put the time at about 6:35 p.m. Lynch suffered severe body trauma and was taken to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead.
Source: Streetsblog New York City
The truck's operator, a 41-year-old man whose name police withheld, remained at the scene, police said. No arrests have been made and the driver was not immediately charged, though police said the investigation is ongoing, with the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad examining the circumstances of the crash.
A twin sister demanding answers
Lynch's identical twin sister, Shannon Lynch, herself an emergency medical technician, told Streetsblog she wants the driver arrested and a law passed in her sister's name. “I want there to be a Siobhan's Law,” she said. “I want him arrested. You killed my sister. You took the only person that I have away from me.” The sister alleged — an allegation police have not stated as a finding — that the driver must have been distracted and rushing, even though there was no emergency. No official finding on speed, distraction or fault had been announced as of Thursday.
The Department of Sanitation told Gothamist that its “thoughts are with the family of the victim” and that DSNY is fully “assisting” with the NYPD investigation, Streetsblog reported. Streetsblog said it had also asked DSNY for statistics about its drivers' crashes, but that information was not immediately provided.
An intersection with a long crash record
The numbers come from city crash data compiled by Crash Mapper and cited by Streetsblog: in 2025 alone there were 30 reported crashes at just this intersection, injuring 21 people, including five pedestrians, and since 2021 at least 106 reported crashes have injured 77 people, including three cyclists and 18 pedestrians. Streetsblog noted that city crash data has not been updated since early June, so the true totals are likely higher.
Bay Parkway is a seven-lane street that pedestrians must cross to reach Bensonhurst Park, with no pedestrian medians or curb extensions at this corner, according to Transportation Alternatives. The city Department of Transportation has identified the whole stretch of Bay Parkway, including Cropsey Avenue, as a “Vision Zero Priority Corridor” — in a 2025 presentation the DOT said 25 people were killed or seriously injured on it between 2019 and 2023. Transportation Alternatives puts the corridor toll at at least 30 people killed or seriously injured between 2021 and 2025, and says the Cropsey intersection was identified by the DOT as Bay Parkway's second-most dangerous.
“We know that the streets and intersections with the most extensive crash histories are our most dangerous, and the history of Cropsey Avenue and Bay Parkway is a mile-long,” said Ben Furnas, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, in a statement on Thursday, October 29. “Our street redesigns should be driven by crash data, but on Bay Parkway, we redesigned a street and left one of its most dangerous intersections unsafe. Now, a New Yorker has lost their life. This tragedy was predictable, preventable, and we owe it to every New Yorker to make sure that it never happens again.” Transportation Alternatives said safety work announced in 2024 for both streets is under construction, and a bus lane has recently been installed on Cropsey Avenue, but the plan excluded pedestrian improvements at this intersection — no concrete pedestrian islands or painted curb extensions are planned there.
People who use the crossing daily described the same fear. A cyclist who gave only his first name, Dennis, left a bouquet of flowers at the corner and told Streetsblog: “I ride on the sidewalks; it's too dangerous on the streets. I've nearly been killed 100 times biking here. It's not worth it.” Both roadways feed traffic onto and off the Belt Parkway, one of the city's busiest and most dangerous highways, which keeps turning traffic heavy at the corner through the evening.
What happens next
As of the latest police update on Thursday, the investigation remained open and no arrest had been reported. Whether any charge follows will depend on what the Collision Investigation Squad finds about how the turn was made and whether Lynch, who Transportation Alternatives said was crossing with the right of way, could have been seen in time. The case has also put a direct question to the city: whether an intersection its own data ranks among Brooklyn's worst will now get the pedestrian refuges and curb extensions that were left out of the redesign — the demand Lynch's family and street-safety advocates were already making within a day of her death.