Turning Cab Driver Severely Injures Senior on Nostrand Avenue

A livery cab driver was arrested after severely injuring a senior on Nostrand Avenue this morning, a few blocks from where a woman was fatally struck by motorists while crossing Nostrand last month.

The crash happened at around 6 a.m. Ira Kleigman, 65, was in the crosswalk when 79-year-old Paul Graden struck him while turning left onto westbound Quentin Road from northbound Nostrand, according to NYPD and the Daily News.

NYPD did not specify whether Kleigman was walking across Nostrand or Quentin when he was hit.

Kleigman sustained head trauma and was transported to Kings County Hospital in critical condition. The NYPD Collision Investigation Squad was dispatched to the scene, police told Streetsblog.

From the News:

Graden, who stayed at the scene, was handcuffed by cops and driven away in an unmarked police car. He was later released with a desk appearance ticket for failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care, police said.

Nostrand Avenue is one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous streets for walking, according to the borough’s DOT pedestrian safety action plan. Motorists killed seven pedestrians on Nostrand from 2009 to 2013. There were 68 crashes causing death or severe injury on the street during that period.

The site of today’s crash is about a half-mile south of Nostrand Avenue at Kings Highway, where in January a school bus driver and a second motorist struck and killed Hermanda Booker, a 29-year-old teacher walking to work.

The DOT pedestrian action plan does not single out the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Quentin Road — or the crossing where Booker died — for safety improvements.

This morning’s crash occurred in the 61st Precinct, and in the City Council district represented by Chaim Deutsch.