DJ dies in scooter crash
Collides with oil truck, falls under tires just a block from W. Side home
DJ Stacey got around the city on her scooter — she would have used it Friday night to move between gigs in Washington Heights and the East Village, her wife said.
Stacey — her legal name was Anastasia Ledwith — was near home on the Upper West Side about 2:45 a.m. on Saturday when her gas-powered Roughhouse Sport scooter ended up under the wheels of an oil delivery truck, police said.
Ledwith’s wife, Valerie Perez, said she “always” worried about her scooter riding.
“But she was supergood at it. She was supergood at it,” Perez said. “We’ve had it [the scooter] for the 15 years we’ve been together. When we got together, she got it right away.”
Ledwith, 57, was heading east on W. 76th St. near Central Park West when she tried to navigate around the oil delivery truck ahead of her, cops said.
Witnesses heard Ledwith beeping the horn of the scooter, which police said was properly licensed and registered. Perez said Ledwith habitually wore a helmet.
As Ledwith tried to overtake the moving oil delivery truck, her scooter struck its side, said police. In the collision, Ledwith fell under the truck’s tires, and was run over, cops said.
She was declared dead at the scene, a block from her home.
The scooter was lodged under the truck, and sent up sparks as it was scraped against the pavement, witnesses told police.
The truck driver at first wasn’t aware of the collision, said cops. Only after the driver turned right from W. 76th St. onto Central Park West did he realize something was wrong. He pulled over to investigate, and found the mangled scooter under his rig, said police.
Perez, 55, woke up at 4:30 a.m. and wondered why her wife of six years wasn’t home from work. “Then at 5, the cops came and told me she was in a scooter accident and passed away at the scene,” she said.
“She goes by DJ Stacey to everybody,” Perez said. Ledwith worked days as a wholesale wine saleswoman, and worked many nights as a DJ, a passion of hers since she was a teenager.
“She does it here in the city, and she’s
DJed in Cherry Grove on Fire Island for over 20 years,” Perez said. “She’s originally from Long Island. She’s got a very big Long Island following.”
“She just made everybody dance and laugh and smile,” Perez said.
“She loved when people came up and requested things [songs]. A lot of DJs don’t like that. She loves it. She would never ever say ‘No’ to a request if she had it, and if she didn’t, she’d find it for you if you requested it.”
“The boys loved her because she’s just a fun DJ, nothing serious about it. Just go have a fun time at the bar with her.”
Ledwith had a dog she loved, and enjoyed hanging out at Blondies, a sports bar on W. 79th St. a few blocks from her home.
“I loved everything about her, but the thing I love about her is that she adored me,” Perez said. “Everybody knew that and if you speak to anybody they’ll say, ‘Stacey, all she did is adore me.’ ” “She was very beloved.”
No criminal charges were immediately filed against the oil truck driver.