Red Light Runner Who Killed Cyclist in Midwood Charged With Drugged Driving

The driver who ran a red light and killed a cyclist in Midwood last night has been charged for driving while impaired by drugs. It’s not clear yet whether NYPD and DA Ken Thompson will file additional charges.

At around 10 p.m., Eduard Nikhman, 26, drove his Honda Accord through a steady red light heading westbound on Avenue P, T-boning a southbound vehicle on E 12th Street and propelling it into the path of a man cycling northbound in the western crosswalk, inflicting fatal injuries. The victim’s name has yet to be released pending notification of his family. Gothamist has posted security camera footage of the collision.

NYPD charged Nikhman with driving while impaired by drugs, according to the department’s public information office (DCPI). NYPD did not reveal the substance in Nikhman’s system. When I asked whether the investigation might yield additional charges against Nikhman, DCPI referred me to Thompson’s office. The DA’s press office said Nikhman was arrested last night and has yet to be arraigned.

Avenue P is a wide, two-way street where drivers are “constantly speeding,” a local resident told CBS2.

The victim is the fourth cyclist known to have been killed by a motorist reportedly violating traffic laws in New York City in recent weeks.

On Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, Lauren Davis was run over by a driver who was reportedly turning onto Lexington Avenue and failed to yield. On Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, James Gregg was killed by a semi-truck driver operating an oversized vehicle on a street where trucks are not allowed. And outside the Mosholu Gate of the New York Botanical Garden, a truck driver exiting the garden failed to yield to Heather Lough as she crossed Southern Boulevard, taking her life.

None of these crashes — or any crashes in the past 70 days — have been mapped yet by the de Blasio administration’s Vision Zero View website, which is supposed to provide regular updates on street safety by tracking traffic deaths and injuries. The site hasn’t been updated since February collision data was added. A notice says crash updates will resume after the city finishes “transitioning to a new electronic crash data reporting system.”