A Greenpoint local who was struck by a driver at the intersection of Sutton Street and Nassau Avenue has died. Streetsblog has identified the woman as 49-year-old Danielle Aber.
Greenpointers first reported news of the crash, which took place around 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 21.
Aber sustained head trauma and was found in critical condition; EMS removed her from the scene and took her to Elmhurst Hospital, where she has now passed. She was crossing Sutton Street from the southwest corner to the southeast corner.
“A 2021 Dodge Ram traveling westbound on Nassau Avenue made a left turn onto southbound Sutton Street, striking the pedestrian. The 68-year-old male vehicle operator remained at the scene; the investigation remains ongoing by NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad, and the 68-year-old male vehicle operator was taken into custody.”
NYPD statement to Greenpointers
The driver was Queens resident Stanley Manel. At the time of the previous story’s publication, he is being charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. According to his driving record, he has been cited for speeding, often in a school zone, at least 26 times.
In response to the tragedy, North Brooklyn elected officials released a joint statement.
“We’re deeply saddened and outraged at the news of yet another pedestrian being struck by an unsafe driver in Greenpoint. Our neighbors should be able to safely cross the street, but constituents consistently share how concerned they are about dangerous, poorly designed intersections like this one. We are holding the injured person and their family in our hearts, and hope this serves as a reminder of caution — lives are destroyed by dangerous driving, both for the victims of crashes and the perpetrators.
These tragedies are not inevitable: policy tools exist that can make our streets dramatically safer. We’re calling on the New York State legislature to pass two critical bills that would lead to fewer incidents of traffic violence. Assemblymember Gallagher carries legislation requiring drivers with six or more speeding tickets in a year — or with 11 or more points on their license in 18 months — to install an intelligent speed assistance device in their car that prevents speeding. Sammy’s Law empowers the City Council to lower speed limits in New York City — the Council has already passed a home rule message urging its swift passage.
Speed contributes to a third of all traffic fatalities and every 10 mph of increased speed doubles the risk of death. Lowering the speed limit and enforcing real accountability for dangerous drivers are urgent steps we must take to protect New Yorkers.
As we’ve reiterated time and time again, the Department of Transportation must also enact more street safety interventions to dramatically slow down traffic and ensure pedestrian safety through mechanisms like raised crosswalks and aggressive implementation of daylighting to increase visibility at intersections across Greenpoint.”
Statement from Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Council Member Lincoln Restler, and Representative Nydia Velázquez.
Greenpointers wishes to express our deepest condolences to all of Danielle Aber’s loved ones.
How about a simple stop sign or stop light at Nassau and Sutton? People in the area have wanted that for a long time.
Unbelievably sad for everyone involved. nassau and sutton is a huge problem because people use it as a service road to bypass McGuinness — pretty much, there needs to be more lights on many of the intersections parallel to mcguiness in not ALL of them (but I know that would be a different problem all together)
Horrible, horrible, horrible. Rest in peace Danielle.
A speed camera was installed on Nassau Avenue at Sutton Street, precisely where the pedestrian was struck. They knew about vehicles speeding there but chose to generate revenue instead of protect pedestrians with simple and effective stop signs, road markings, speed bumps and/or traffic lights.
They should add more traffic lights to the neighborhood. I lot more drivers blow through stops signs than run red lights.