Kevin Flores
Kevin Flores
Friday, January 26, 2018
Age: 13
Location:
Lewis Avenue at Jefferson Avenue
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Brooklyn , NY
United States
The small ghost bike installed at the event described below is now gone, we will install another one soon.
The Daily News reported on the fatal crash. A memorial page was set up to accept donations to support the family.
From Brooklyner
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT – Dozens of neighbors gathered with elected
officials in the rain Sunday at a press conference to support the family
of Kevin Angel Flores, the 13-year-old teenager who was struck and
killed by an oil truck while riding his bike on Lewis Avenue at
Jefferson Avenue on Friday night.
The victim’s mother, Margarita Flores, fought tears as she stood next
to a makeshift memorial for her son and described her feelings when she
first heard news of his death.
“I can only imagine how my son felt when he was hit,” Flores said
through a translator. “He was probably crying for his mother, like all
children do.”
Kevin Flores had been pedaling home to Ridgewood, Queens, where his
family lives, when an oil truck made a left turn onto Jefferson Avenue
and struck the teenager. The truck’s driver, identified by CBS2 as Philip Monfoletto, stayed on the scene and was taken into custody by police.
ccording to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Monfoletto had been operating his vehicle illegally.
“[This driver] had a suspended license not once but several times,”
Adams said. “Yet he brazenly laughed at the law and drove on the road
with the full understanding that his license was suspended.”
Characterizing existing traffic laws as “antiquated,” Adams said that
the accident could have been prevented with stronger laws and heavier
penalties.
Under existing New York Vehicle and Traffic (VAT) law § 511, if
someone is caught driving without a license, there is a $200 to $500
fine for the first offense, depending on the severity of the crime.
“These penalties are sending a mockery of our system and we need to
move forward to ensure that we send a very clear and strong message that
our streets should not be unsafe to use,” Adams said.
Adams also pledged to reexamine laws that exempt owners of companies
from liability when an unlicensed employee causes a serious accident on
the road.
Councilman Robert Cornegy, Jr. represents the block where Flores was
killed and said that drivers need to be aware of their surroundings,
especially in residential communities.
“People have to understand that this is a community that’s surrounded
by families and children,” he said. “These streets are not owned by
vehicles. These streets are owned by the patrons and the constituents
that live here.”
The L and S Jefferson Block Association has been working with the
borough president’s office to collect money to help Flores’s family pay
for funeral expenses, Greg Mayers, president of the association, said.
“We want to send a strong message that we love Kevin,” Mayers said.
“This is a block where kids come together and they play. My daughter is
14 years old. Kevin could’ve been any of our kids on the block here…This
is what unity, this is what community, is about.”
Councilman Antonio Reynoso, who represents parts of Bushwick and
Ridgewood, called for better infrastructure to protect bicyclists and
pedestrians in all areas of the city.
“An introduction of a bike lane is not an introduction to
gentrification. It is an introduction to safety,” Reynoso said. “Kevin
Angel Flores could’ve been in a bike lane, safe, coming from Bed-Stuy to
Ridgewood. Instead, he was riding next to trucks and buses and cars.”
The nearest conventional bike lane is two avenues west, on Throop Avenue, according to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2017 bike map. There are no bike lanes east of Lewis Avenue for several avenues and no protected bike lanes in the neighborhood at all.
...
Ken Bandes, a member of the Families for Safe Streets campaign and
the father of a child killed by a vehicle five years ago, echoed
Reynoso’s call for action.
“It’s in our power to fix this: to have bike lanes, to have speed
cameras, to have better, stronger laws,” Bandes said. “If you’re not on
board with this, you need to ask yourself why.”
Families for Safe Streets is a project of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy organization focused on pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Margarita Flores, who is five months pregnant with another child,
stressed the importance of drivers being alert and free of distractions
when they are behind the wheel so that no other families have to suffer
like hers.
“[Kevin] was a good kid, a good young man and he deserved to continue to live,” Flores said.
StreetsBlogNYC described the death of Kevin to be a complete failure of New York State's vehicle regulation system.
Friday, January 26, 2018
Age: 13
Location:
Lewis Avenue at Jefferson Avenue
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Brooklyn , NY
United States
The small ghost bike installed at the event described below is now gone, we will install another one soon.
The Daily News reported on the fatal crash. A memorial page was set up to accept donations to support the family.
From Brooklyner
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT – Dozens of neighbors gathered with elected
officials in the rain Sunday at a press conference to support the family
of Kevin Angel Flores, the 13-year-old teenager who was struck and
killed by an oil truck while riding his bike on Lewis Avenue at
Jefferson Avenue on Friday night.
The victim’s mother, Margarita Flores, fought tears as she stood next
to a makeshift memorial for her son and described her feelings when she
first heard news of his death.
“I can only imagine how my son felt when he was hit,” Flores said
through a translator. “He was probably crying for his mother, like all
children do.”
Kevin Flores had been pedaling home to Ridgewood, Queens, where his
family lives, when an oil truck made a left turn onto Jefferson Avenue
and struck the teenager. The truck’s driver, identified by CBS2 as Philip Monfoletto, stayed on the scene and was taken into custody by police.
ccording to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Monfoletto had been operating his vehicle illegally.
“[This driver] had a suspended license not once but several times,”
Adams said. “Yet he brazenly laughed at the law and drove on the road
with the full understanding that his license was suspended.”
Characterizing existing traffic laws as “antiquated,” Adams said that
the accident could have been prevented with stronger laws and heavier
penalties.
Under existing New York Vehicle and Traffic (VAT) law § 511, if
someone is caught driving without a license, there is a $200 to $500
fine for the first offense, depending on the severity of the crime.
“These penalties are sending a mockery of our system and we need to
move forward to ensure that we send a very clear and strong message that
our streets should not be unsafe to use,” Adams said.
Adams also pledged to reexamine laws that exempt owners of companies
from liability when an unlicensed employee causes a serious accident on
the road.
Councilman Robert Cornegy, Jr. represents the block where Flores was
killed and said that drivers need to be aware of their surroundings,
especially in residential communities.
“People have to understand that this is a community that’s surrounded
by families and children,” he said. “These streets are not owned by
vehicles. These streets are owned by the patrons and the constituents
that live here.”
The L and S Jefferson Block Association has been working with the
borough president’s office to collect money to help Flores’s family pay
for funeral expenses, Greg Mayers, president of the association, said.
“We want to send a strong message that we love Kevin,” Mayers said.
“This is a block where kids come together and they play. My daughter is
14 years old. Kevin could’ve been any of our kids on the block here…This
is what unity, this is what community, is about.”
Councilman Antonio Reynoso, who represents parts of Bushwick and
Ridgewood, called for better infrastructure to protect bicyclists and
pedestrians in all areas of the city.
“An introduction of a bike lane is not an introduction to
gentrification. It is an introduction to safety,” Reynoso said. “Kevin
Angel Flores could’ve been in a bike lane, safe, coming from Bed-Stuy to
Ridgewood. Instead, he was riding next to trucks and buses and cars.”
The nearest conventional bike lane is two avenues west, on Throop Avenue, according to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2017 bike map. There are no bike lanes east of Lewis Avenue for several avenues and no protected bike lanes in the neighborhood at all.
...
Ken Bandes, a member of the Families for Safe Streets campaign and
the father of a child killed by a vehicle five years ago, echoed
Reynoso’s call for action.
“It’s in our power to fix this: to have bike lanes, to have speed
cameras, to have better, stronger laws,” Bandes said. “If you’re not on
board with this, you need to ask yourself why.”
Families for Safe Streets is a project of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy organization focused on pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Margarita Flores, who is five months pregnant with another child,
stressed the importance of drivers being alert and free of distractions
when they are behind the wheel so that no other families have to suffer
like hers.
“[Kevin] was a good kid, a good young man and he deserved to continue to live,” Flores said.
StreetsBlogNYC described the death of Kevin to be a complete failure of New York State's vehicle regulation system.