FATAL CRASH INTO TRUCK
Speeding driver dies after hitting garbage hauler in Brooklyn
A reportedly speeding Mercedes-Benz driver died Friday after colliding with a private garbage hauler making a U-turn in a Brooklyn intersection, said police.
The collision is the latest fatal crash involving New York City’s private carting industry, which has been accused of running roughshod over streets in the five boroughs as its trucks go from pick up to pick up.
The 54-year-old driver for Cogent Waste Solutions was turning his 2018 Mack truck around past the corner of Gerritsen and Florence Aves. in Gerritsen Beach about 12:30 a.m. when the Mercedes slammed into the big rig, cops said.
The Mercedes driver, identified by relatives as Patrick Donovan, 42, was rushed to Brookdale Medical Center, but he did not survive.
“He was a good brother. He was a great father,” Donovan’s brother Michael said Friday as he and his relatives lit candles and placed flowers at the scene of the crash.
Donovan, a machine operator, grew up in tightly knit Gerritsen Beach, between Sheepshead Bay and Marine Park in south Brooklyn. He had just moved back to the neighborhood when the fatal crash occurred, his brother said.
His death left a gaping hole in his extended family, which includes his parents, a 17-year-old son, three sisters, two brothers and a number of nieces and nephews.
“It hurts,” his brother Michael said. “This happened too soon. It’s still so surreal.”
Donovan’s son was also at the crash site, but too grief stricken to talk Friday.
Relatives remembered Donovan as a friendly, generous man who would “give the shirt off his back.”
“He enjoyed anything with a motor, really. He loved life,” the grieving brother said. “He liked everyone around him, [for his] family to be together.”
The Mercedes-Benz was traveling at high speed when it collided with the garbage truck, sources with knowledge of the case said.
The trash truck’s driver remained at the scene and did not immediately face any charges, cops said.
An investigation into the crash was continuing.
Ara Chekmayan, a spokesman for Cogent, said that multiple witnesses told him that the Mercedes-Benz was speeding before it slammed the rear of the truck.
“We are saddened by this tragic loss of life. We are fully cooperating with the investigation,” Chekmayan said.
In order to tamp down on crashes and vehicular fatalities, the city is expected to impose a new “zone system” on private haulers that would limit the areas in which they can pick up trash.
The City Council authorized the program in 2019 after private garbage truck drivers sparked a series of fatal crashes while driving long routes across the city. In an effort to boost profits, many trash haulers assigned crews to routes that cover wide areas and in some cases take more than 12 hours to complete.
The new program will split the city into 20 zones. The Sanitation Department will grant commercial trash-hauling rights in each zone to as many as three companies. Only the companies assigned by the Sanitation Department will be allowed to collect trash from businesses in their zones.
The zone system should be in place by the end of 2024, city officials said.