Truck driver fleeing NYPD cops fatally strikes Queens bicyclist

A Queens bicyclist was fatally struck by a pickup truck driver who was fleeing NYPD cops, police said Wednesday.
Cops responding to a 911 call of a burglary in progress on 39th Ave. near Crescent St. in Long Island City about 11 p.m. Tuesday spotted a Dodge Ram parked nearby with tape covering its rear license plate, cops said. Three men were inside.
When the officers walked over to the truck, the driver sped off, striking two NYPD vehicles as he made his escape.
Cops pursued the Dodge Ram for about a mile into Astoria, where the fleeing truck driver T-boned 37-year-old bicyclist Amanda Servedio in the intersection of 37th St. and 34th Ave, cops said.
Servedio had just pedaled into the intersection when she was struck by the oncoming Dodge Ram, shocking surveillance video obtained by the Daily News shows. An NYPD van was hot on the Dodge Ram’s heels with its lights flashing.
Servedio was thrown from her bike onto a parked car, police said.
A woman who lives near where Servedio was killed recalled hearing a loud crash but chalked it up to construction or maintenance work.
“I hear the noise. Very bad. I don’t think about it. I think Spectrum is doing work,” said Nicolina Bicerno, 80.
“Beautiful girl, oh my God,” said Bicerno after she saw a photo of Servedio. “I feel sorry for the family.”
The officers in the van abandoned the pursuit and stopped to render aid to Servedio as the Dodge Ram sped off, police said. The truck was later found abandoned on Newtown Road and 47th Ave., cops said. Its occupants remain on the loose.
Medics rushed Servedio to Elmhurst Hospital but she couldn’t be saved. She was about eight blocks from home when she was struck.
According to one man who witnessed the horrific crash, Servedio helped save his life.
Jake Kwok recounted that he was walking his Shiba Inu, Harry, when Servedio rang her bicycle bell to warn him — preventing him from stepping out into the oncoming truck.
“The bicycle lady rang her bell to alert me. I heard sirens right after that,” Kwok said. “The truck turned the corner really quickly. It had just cut off a car. It slammed right into the lady.”
Kwok said he was “shellshocked” when he saw the truck plow into the bicycle, shattering it.
“She didn’t even scream,“ he said. “She went airborne. She flew like 30 feet and landed on a BMW. It was a lot of force.”
Elias Petratos, 74, who also witnessed the collision said he heard a “boom” and saw police and paramedics aid her.
“Her body hit the hood of the BMW with huge force and dented it in,” Petratos said.
Servedio’s family were too distraught to speak.
“I’m sorry, but we have nothing to say at this time,” said a female relative to shaken to speak further. “We loved her.”
The victim’s neighbors remembered Servedio as a friendly face around the building and were saddened and shocked to hear of her death.
“Oh wow. I didn’t know her well. I know she had two dogs she was always walking,” said Pax Fields, 50. “I just saw on Reddit that a bicyclist had been hit but I didn’t click it or look into it. But wow, oh my gosh.”
“She was super nice. We didn’t get a whole lot of opportunity to talk deeply but we always said hi to each other.”
Fields remembered speaking with Servedio about another bike accident she had been in recently.
“She had a relatively minor injury at one point. I was in a coffee shop with her and she told me about it. Nothing major,”
Another neighbor, a 40-year-old man who didn’t provide his name, said he remembered Serevideo had her arm in a sling or a cast over the summer.
“She seemed like a nice person. I remember seeing her in passing. I remember she would hold the door,” said the man. “That’s so sad.”
In a post published by The Midtown Gazette just over a week ago, a bicyclist with the same name as the victim was described as having had a collision with someone riding an electric Citi Bike on the Queensboro Bridge. As Servedio crashed into a concrete barrier, the other rider kept going.
Two officers in an NYPD vehicle struck by the Dodge Ram driver on 23rd St. near 36th Ave. suffered minor injuries and were treated at the same hospital.
Cops tried to pen the Dodge Ram in, but the driver kept making erratic turns, making it hard for cops to pinpoint him. Officers were able to recover the license plate number for the Ram, which goes back to a Staten Island resident.
The license plate has accrued nearly 100 violations since 2022, mostly for speeding in a school zone and blowing through red lights, police sources said.
Members of the NYPD Force Investigations Division, which usually investigates police-related shootings, will be reviewing this incident, cops said.
So far, no cops involved in the pursuit have been suspended or modified.
Investigators believe the pickup truck driver may have been involved in the burglary of a two-story home on Crescent St. that led a witness called into 911.
The would-be burglar may be on federal parole, police sources said.
Three people have been killed in NYPD pursuits this year and many more injured, Transportation Alternatives Co-Executive Director Elizabeth Adams said.
“Driving any vehicle at high speed puts everyone on the street at risk, and police chases are no exception,” Adams said. “The police regularly put New Yorkers at risk with these deadly, unnecessary chases. It’s time for the city to ban police chases in writing and in practice – maintaining the status quo will kill more of our neighbors.”
NYPD car chases have surged under the Adams administration, according to a recent analysis by news site The City.
In the first three months of 2023, police engaged in pursuits 304 times — an almost 600% uptick compared to the same time frame in 2022, the outlet found, citing data about 911 calls.
The increase exceeded the total number of vehicle pursuits in 2022, which came to 214 chases.
The spike in pursuits stemmed from concerns that more crimes were being carried out by drivers in unregistered vehicles, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell explained last year.
“People thinking they can take off on us — those days are over,” he said at a July 6, 2023, press conference.
While the policy shift has drawn criticism from police watchdogs who say the risks outweigh the potential upsides, the NYPD insists high-speed chases are sometimes necessary.
“Pursuing any car is inherently dangerous,” Chell said last year. “You’ve got to strike that balance [of] when you’re going to do it, how you’re going to do it … I tell bosses if you don’t think it’s a go, you call it off.”
After receiving staunch criticism about police pursuits, the NYPD switched gears, implementing new policies in which supervisors must approve police pursuits based on a number of factors, including if the decision to pursue could harm the public.