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One pedestrian was killed and four others were injured when a minivan jumped the curb near LaGuardia Community College this morning, according to police.
Around 10:30 a.m., the vehicle was traveling eastbound on Thomson Avenue when the driver lost control and drove onto the sidewalk at 30th Street, striking five people.
They were taken to Elmhurst General Hospital where one of the victims, 16-year-old Tenzin Drudak, was pronounced dead. The four injured pedestrians are listed in stable condition.
According to Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson David Pena, Drudak was a student at Applied Communications High School, which is located near the accident site at 30-20 Thomson Avenue. The DOE is “arranging for a crisis team to offer counseling to students and staff at the school,” he said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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I am heartbroken. I am a faculty member at LaGuardia Community College and I walk these sidewalks daily. I hope that this will be the impetus for a more vigorous enforcement of the pedestrian right of way in between the E, M, B & C buildings (Thomson between Vandam and 29th). Right after Tenzin’s death I myself was told to yield by a city traffic agent to a car making a precarious, fast (& illegal) left hand turn onto 30th Street while I had the walk signal. I think he should have ticketed the driver and not scolded the pedestrians. If public safety and not automotive expedience were the order of the day, perhaps that young person would be alive to graduate.
Stafford Gregoire, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
LaGuardia Community College
31-10 Thomson Avenue
E-103-X
Long Island City, NY 11101
As a faculty member at LaGuardia Community College I am deeply saddened by the injury to four of our students and the death of a high school student at Applied Communications High School. This accident may not have occurred if our numerous complaints to the city of New York were adequately addressed. For years, students, staff and faculty members have had to literally dodge cars crossing streets surrounding the college. Cars speed, ignore pedestrians’ right of way and get away with frequent illegal car maneuvers. Complaints are made to DOT employees but nothing gets done. Tickets are not issued to offenders and our requests for better traffic enforcement and pedestrian safety measures are ignored. How many injuries and/or deaths need to take place in order for the city of New York to cease ignoring our complaints!
I teach at LaGuardia Community College. Thomson Ave. and Van Dam St. are deathtraps, and neither the NYPD nor City Hall will do anything about it. Drudak Tenzin didn’t have to die.
Can anyone figure out why the City and State won’t do anything about pedestrian safety or traffic crashes in general? Let me enlighten you. Because there is money to be made in traffic crashes. Think sales and income tax dollars that are generated from all the transactions that flow from a crash: doctor bills, car repair bills, lawyer fees, funeral fees, florists fees, etc. etc. When someone can figure out how to take the profit motive out of crashes, then something will be done.