The Weekly Carnage

The Weekly Carnage is a Friday round-up of motor vehicle mayhem
across the five boroughs and beyond. For more on the origins and purpose of this
column, please read About the Weekly Carnage.

Injuries, Arrests and Property Damage

• Bay Ridge: Off-Duty NYPD Charged With DWI in Pedestrian Hit-and-Run (News)
• Woodside: Off-Duty NYPD Charged With DWI After Flipping Car (News)
• Kingsbridge: Boy, 4, and Mom Injured by Livery Driver; No Charges (Streetsblog, R’dale Press, News)
• Dyker Heights: Drunk Driver Hits Man, Slams Into Parked Cars; Victim “Expected to Survive” (News)
• Manhattan: Multiple-Car Collision on FDR; Injuries Unknown (Post)
• SI: 4 Hospitalized in Three-Vehicle Crash on Korean War Veterans Parkway (Advance)
• Elm Park, SI: Three-Vehicle Crash Leaves 1 Trapped; Injuries Unknown (Advance)
• Queens: Passengers Helpless as Raging Cabbie Chases Limo on Van Wyck Expressway (Post)
• Carroll Gardens: Car Thief Arrested After Red Light Stop (Bklyn Paper)
• Ridgewood: Driver Arrested, Arraigned in Two-Vehicle Hit-and-Run (YN)
• New Springville: Drunk Driver Confesses on the Scene (Advance)

Luten Avenue outside Tottenville High School, where 17-year-old Janine Brawer was fatally struck last November, is getting a center median, new traffic signals and wider crosswalks.

Following Up

• Improvements in Progress on Staten Island Street Where Janine Brawer Was Mortally Injured (NY1)
• Assembly Member Adam Clayton Powell IV Convicted of DWAI; Says He Was Framed (NYT, Post)
• Accused Driver Charged With Murder in Death of Karen Schmeer (News, DNAinfo)
• Jayson Williams’ Counsel Claims He Wasn’t the Driver in Drunken FDR Crash (Gothamist)
• Traffic Stop Charges Dropped Against Rev. Al’s Ex-Wife and Daughter (Post)
• Firefighter Cyclist Nearly Killed in 2005 Named Among World’s Fittest Men (Post 1, 2)

In the Region, Out of Town

• Harrison, NY: “Runaway” Prius Case Ruled Bogus (AP)
• Westchester Couple Suing Toyota Over 2008 Crash That Killed Son (WINS, Gothamist)
• Franklin Lakes, NJ: Dwight Gooden Charged With Drugged Driving, Leaving Scene (AP, News)
• Keyport, NJ: Cable Worker Falls 20 Feet When SI Driver Hits Ladder (Advance)
• Munfordville, KY: “At Least 10” Dead in Interstate Collision Between Van and Semi (AP)
• San Diego: David “Puck” Rainey From “The Real World” Seriously Hurt in One-Car Crash (CBS)

Other News

• NHTSA: 33,963 Americans Killed in Traffic in 2009 Marks a Record Low (Wheels)
• East Flatbush: Residents, Merchants Want Changes at Out-of-Control Avenue D and Utica (YN)
• James Molinaro: More Pavement, Wider Intersections Will Help SI’s “Traffic Problem” (NY1)
• DOT Resists Pleas for Stoplight at Perilous University Heights Intersection (Norwood News)
• Endangering Cyclists “Acceptable” to Brooklyn Heights Church, 84th Precinct (Bklyn Paper)
• Council Member Says DC Is Soft on Drivers Who Kill (GGW)
• Signal Timing, Traffic Cams Under Scrutiny in Chicago (CBN)
• Can Drivers Lose the Persecution Complex to Protect Kids? Don’t Count on It. (Times-Picayune)
• Streets Designed to Slow European Motorists Will Work in U.S. Too (Infrastructurist)