A motorcyclist lost his life when he collided with a fire truck in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. He was headed to a memorial for a friend, also killed in a motorcycle crash, exactly one year ago. And this wasn’t the first time the fire truck was involved in a crash this year. Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
A motorcyclist was struck and killed by a fire truck in Brooklyn while he was on his way to a memorial for another biker friend killed in a crash one year ago.
The motorcyclist, 46-year-old Reginald Brown of Brooklyn, was going westbound on Monroe Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant when he collided with an FDNY fire truck at Marcy Avenue at about 4 p.m., officials said. He was a block away from his home.
Witness Danae Grandison said Brown's body "flew off the motorycle," and he landed in front of a beauty salon. He was wearing a helmet.
The fire truck from Ladder Company 111 was responding to a fire at 315 Nostrand Ave., caused when a 17-year-old boy set off illegal fireworks, officials said. The truck had its lights and sirens on.
Brown was taken to Woodhull Hospital where he died, officials said.
Tiesha Safford said she was "confused" by how her cousin, who was a careful motorcyclist, could have gotten struck.
"He rides his bike pretty slow so I don't know how he wasn't able to hear them," said Brown's cousin Tiesha Safford. "I don't understand."
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Friends told NBC 4 New York Brown was going to a memorial for a friend who died in a motorcycle crash one year ago on Utica Avenue and Avenue D in Brooklyn.
"He said he was going to change his clothes, and we were going to link up to go to the memorial for a friend of ours," said friend Sidest Mahadi.
Brown was a stickler for rules, said Mahadi.
"If he had a book, from A to Z, that's how he's going to follow it," said Mahadi. "He's not going to skip through it, not a page."
Brown was an active member of the Ready, Willing & Able program at New York City's The Doe Fund.
A spokeswoman for the organization told NBC 4 New York in a statement, "As a beloved staff member and graduate of the Ready, Willing & Able program for more than 10 years, Reginald kept everyone smiling as he was the master of ceremonies at annual holiday parties as well as at events held at Doe Fund facilities for the homeless he so unconditionally served."
The Ladder Company 111 truck was involved in another crash on March 27, when it collided with another vehicle on Bedford Avenue while responding to a fire. Ten people, including six firefighters, were injured.
The teen accused of using the illegal fireworks was later arrested, FDNY officials said.
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