A distinguished New York Metropolis Jewish chief suffered a damaged leg after being mowed down by a rogue hit-and-run e-bike driver — and says he’s “fortunate to be alive.”
Rabbi Michael Miller was coming back from a Jewish heritage occasion downtown to his Higher East Facet house on Might 21 when he stepped out of the No.6 practice station at 77th Avenue and Lexington Avenue and all of a sudden acquired slammed.
The out-of-control e-bike driver seemingly got here out of nowhere and blindsided him within the bike lane as he tried to cross Third Avenue at 77th Avenue.
“I fell on the asphalt and broke my proper leg. I suffered a contusion on my left leg,” stated Miller, who headed the Jewish Neighborhood Relations Council for 35 years and in addition is a retired NYPD chaplain.
“Not less than I landed with out hitting my head.”
Writhing on the bottom, he was surprised by the heartless driver, who had been going the improper method down the one-way avenue.
“The e-bike driver checked out me for two or 3 seconds — after which drove off,” he stated.
Fortunately, an excellent samaritan from the neighborhood known as 911 and medics transported him to the hospital. The NYPD stated there had been no arrest and the investigation was ongonig.
A former longtime chaplain well-known by the NYPD, Miller was additionally interviewed by a detective with the nineteenth Pct. on the scene.
He had a titanium rod inserted in his leg after almost 24 hours within the emergency room at NY Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital.
“I’m fortunate to be alive,” Miller instructed The Publish between stints of bodily remedy.
Miller acquired a telephone name the day after his surgical procedure from Mayor Eric Adams, whom he’s identified for many years. They mentioned the necessity for more durable legal guidelines and enforcement to control and prosecute reckless drivers of unlicensed e-scooters.
He’s now in a rehab facility, making an attempt to stroll once more with a large boot over his proper leg, accompanied by a walker.
Miller demanded more durable legal guidelines to license and regulation e-bikes and mopeds, and imposing stiffer penalties in opposition to reckless drivers.
“One thing must be accomplished about electrical bikes. Persons are afraid to stroll the streets,” Miller stated.
“They don’t abide by the visitors legal guidelines,” he stated.
Miller spoke to the Publish whereas Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD on Wednesday introduced a summer time crackdown to grab unlawful motorized scooters, mopeds, bikes, all terrain automobiles (ATVs), and different unregistered automobiles from town streets.
MIller cited a bundle of payments pushed by one in every of his state representatives — Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright (D-Manhattan) — that ought to be handed into regulation together with: Will increase the penalties for leaving the scene of an accident involving an electrical scooter; and requiring the registration, inspection, insurance coverage and license plates for e-bikes.
“No New Yorker ought to must concern struggling collisions whereas strolling in their very own neighborhood from the epidemic of e-vehicles inflicting horrible accidents and even fatalities,” stated Seawright, who represents the Higher East Facet, Yorkville and Roosevelt Island, and who visited Miller following the surgical procedure.
The NYPD eliminated greater than 13,000 unlawful two-wheeled automobiles and ATVs thus far this 12 months and confiscated 18,430 final 12 months. Most of the seized scooters are being crushed on the former Recent Kills landfill.
“What occurred to Michael Miller is unacceptable and a chief instance of why the rampant use of unlawful mopeds on metropolis streets not solely degrade New Yorkers’ quality-of-life however are additionally a public security danger,” Adams instructed The Publish.
“We is not going to permit our streets to be overrun by these working these harmful automobiles, which is why as we speak we introduced the NYPD’s enhanced summer time enforcement technique to assist take away unlawful motorized unregistered automobiles from metropolis streets as hotter climate months usually see an uptick in crime patterns involving these unlawful automobiles. We’ll proceed to work day-after-day to make sure New Yorkers, like Michael Miller, really feel secure strolling their neighborhood streets.”
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