Wrong-Way Brooklyn Cyclist in Critical Condition After Crashing Into Pedestrian

A 26-year-old Brooklyn man is in critical condition on Thursday morning after his bicycle collided with a pedestrian on Dekalb Avenue near Franklin Avenue on Wednesday night, police say.

Although the cyclist was in the bike lane, says an NYPD spokesperson, he was traveling eastbound against the flow of traffic and wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

The pedestrian, a 40-year-old male, stepped into the street at Dekalb and Franklin around 11 p.m., according to police.

“He struck a pedestrian traveling north to south,” the spokesperson tells Patch. ”The bicyclist was ejected, striking his head against the pavement.”

Witnesses describe the crash to the New York Daily News:

Mohamad Salim, 32, who owns the Salim Smoke Shop, said the incident happened right outside his store window. ... Salim said the pedestrian, a United Parcel Service employee, had just walked out of his shop when the bicyclist collided with him.

“The UPS guy walked out and was looking the other way and the bike hit him,” he said. “The bicyclist flipped over a couple of times. His head cracked open.”

When police found the cyclist, they say he was ”unconscious and unresponsive.” He’s now in critical condition at Kings County Hospital.

The pedestrian was treated at the scene for a ”minor left forearm injury,” police say, but did not require hospitalization.

The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is still investigating into the crash.