Updated 49 minutes ago
One person was killed, and three others were hurt, after a car crash near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, fire officials say.
The crash was reported at about 7 a.m. at Flatbush and Fourth avenues, according to the FDNY.
The
person who killed was pronounced dead at the scene, officials say. Two
other people were taken to the hospital in serious condition, while the
third person had minor injuries.
It’s not clear what caused the crash, or if the victims were inside a vehicle.
Chopper
4 footage from the scene shows a heavily damaged SUV crashed into
barriers near a sidewalk. A second nearby is also heavily damaged, and
it appears that a bicycle is pinned underneath the SUV.
Several
police cars are blocking off traffic at the busy intersection, and
dozens of onlookers can be seen standing around the wreckage.
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The crash occurred at around 7 a.m. near the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, at the edge of Fort Greene.
Police say the person who was killed, a man in his 30s, was riding a bicycle when he was struck by a vehicle. That vehicle then hit two other cars.
“The vehicle traveling north on Flatbush Avenue crossed the yellow line into the southbound lane” and hit the bicycle head-on, says a police spokesperson.
The cyclist was already died when first responders arrived. “He was found lying on the road with trauma to the body,” says the spokesperson.
His identity is being withheld pending notification of family members.
According to the FDNY, three others were injured in the pile-up — one seriously, one moderately and one minorly. They were all transported to a nearby hospital.
Pix11 reports that “aerial footage of the scene showed a victim lying beneath a white tarp in the middle of the roadway and two smashed cars that appeared to have landed about a block away from each other.”
NBC New York, which also sent a helicopter to the scene, reports that “a heavily damaged SUV crashed into barriers near a sidewalk. Several police cars are blocking off traffic at the busy intersection, and dozens of onlookers can be seen standing around the wreckage.”