Cyclist’s life in ruins after hit
A transgender Brooklyn woman who says she was severely injured in a hit-and-run with an FDNY ambulance while rider her bicycle has been teetering on the brink of ruin for two years because the city refuses to fess up to the accident.
Aleliana Boyer, 34, says the injuries she suffered in the crash have left her unable to work, rendering her unable to pay her rent or bills. Because she knows a city ambulance hit her, but can't prove it, she's stuck in an accident insurance limbo.
Boyer has had two surgeries and, as the matter drags on, so do her financial woes.
The city could enable Boyer to get a payout under a state insurance fund for hit-and-run victims who cannot identify the driver. It could pay her out of its insurance, if it's proved liable. She could also be paid under a no-fault insurance fund for cases in which the driver is known but uninsured.
Boyer's been unable to collect any money, her lawyer says, because the FDNY refuses to take responsibility for the accident and refused to turn over the necessary records that would prove they weren't involved.
Boyer sued the FDNY in Brooklyn Supreme Court for reimbursement of her medical bills, but the case has hit a brick wall.
“I think it's just a matter of stalling and, ultimately, trying to completely disclaim any liability so they don't have to face the fact that their driver was responsible for a hit and run that has ruined a woman's life,” her lawyer Michael Pontone said of the city.
Boyer, who went by the name Stephen and identified as gender non-binary at the time of the crash, said she was on the verge of starting a new phase of her life when the accident happened.
On May 16, 2016 — the day before she was to graduate from a Pratt Institute master of fine arts writing program — she was biking home to Ocean Hill about 5 p.m.
A witness, Rachel Kueny,
said she saw the ambulance lights, but Boyer didn't.
“She tried to stop and the ambulance went right through the intersection, and they collided,” she said.
The police did not note it was an FDNY ambulance in the accident report but did describe the unit as red and white, the FDNY colors.
Pontone, Boyer's lawyer, said the Fire Department has refused to provide records of which ambulances and drivers were dispatched.
Rodiana Katsaros, the lawyer for the city, denied stalling.
Judge Martin Schneier ordered the city to cough up the GPS records.
The Law Department, which handles suits against the city, declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The Fire Department did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Boyr said, “They knock me out of the prime of life,” Boyer said. “I worked really hard to put myself through school, but now I'm two years into a lawsuit and about to lose my home.”