Judge bemoans city bike hazard at sentencing in actor’s death
A judge decried New York City’s problems with electric and gaspowered bikes on Wednesday as he sentenced the electric scooter rider who crashed into “Gone Girl” actor Lisa Banes to one to three years in prison for his manslaughter conviction.
Brian Boyd, 27, was led away in handcuffs after sentencing in Manhattan state court by Judge Gregory Carro in the death of Banes. She was struck by the scooter Boyd operated as she crossed a midtown Manhattan street in June 2021. She died 10 days later at a hospital.
Carro said Boyd sped through a red light, struck Banes and fled to a bike shop, where he drank a beer.
The judge said the city “has a problem” with the motorized bikes, and he wants drivers of unregistered and unlicensed bikes to know they can go to jail when they do harm.
Traffic fatalities have been on the rise in the city. Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for safer streets, found that they rose 44 percent in New York City during the first three months of 2022, with pedestrians accounting for 29 of the 59 dead. The study found that Manhattan experienced a 120 percent increase compared with the same period in 2021.
Before Carro announced the sentence Wednesday, Boyd said he was “extremely sorry.”
The sentence was consistent with an agreement Boyd signed before pleading guilty to manslaughter in September.
Banes was 65. She had appeared in numerous stage productions, television shows and movies, including “Gone Girl” in 2014 and “Cocktail” in 1988. On television, she had roles on “Nashville,” “Madam Secretary,” “Masters of Sex” and “NCIS.”
Her stage career included Broadway appearances in the Neil Simon play “Rumors” in 1988, the musical “High Society” in 1998 and the Noel Coward play “Present Laughter” in 2010.
Her wife, Kathryn Kranhold, a former contributor to the Center for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, urged the judge to impose a “very significant term of imprisonment” for Boyd, who she said was poised to benefit from a “very sweet plea deal.”
Speaking at a lectern, she described her panic when Banes failed to arrive at dinner and when she saw her comatose wife with bloody hair on life support.
“My life stopped at that moment,” Kranhold said.