Motorist fatally strikes man attempting to cross Major Deegan

A second fatality took place this week on the Major Deegan Expressway Thursday morning.
File photo Pamela Rozon

A driver on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx fatally struck a man trying to cross the busy highway on Tuesday, police reported.

Officers from the 46th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a car accident involving a pedestrian struck at the southbound Major Deegan at West Tremont Avenue at approximately 2:37 a.m. on June 4.

When officers arrived, they found a man lying on the roadway with trauma throughout his body. Responding EMS pronounced the man dead at the scene. Police were unable to confirm the man’s age at this time, and are withholding his identity pending family notification.

An investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that the man was trying to cross the Major Deegan from east to west when he was struck by a 65-year-old man driving a 2015 Toyota Avalon southbound on the expressway.

The driver remained at the scene and was not injured. It is unclear how fast the car was going, but no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.

The Major Deegan Expressway has been the site of several serious traffic accidents in recent years. In August of 2023, a Mount Vernon resident was struck and killed by a driver on the expressway near 238th Street. Another man involved in the same incident was brought to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

Another dead following second Major Deegan collision this week

And in 2022, a driver struck and critically injured a man who was attempting to cross the highway near Jerome Avenue.

Citywide, traffic accidents involving pedestrians and drivers are an ongoing issue.

According to the advocacy group, Transportation Alternatives, traffic crashes killed 60 people in NYC during the first three months of 2024. The organization called this the “deadliest first quarter” since the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate death and serious injury from traffic accidents was implemented in 2014.

This story was originally published by affiliate AMNewYorkMetro. 


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