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By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
It was a sad start to the New Year when a car struck and killed an elderly man on Jan. 2 as he crossed 65th Street at Seventh Avenue.
Medical professionals declared 75-year-old Xiaoci Hu dead on arrival at Lutheran Medical Center shortly after 7 am, the result of a collision with a Toyota Camry in the Gravesend-bound lane.
Police said they responded to a call about the crash at 6:49 am, and discovered Hu lying unconscious in the intersection. Emergency personnel transported the Borough Park resident to the hospital, but it was too late.
Police determined that Hu had been crossing 65th Street against the light in the direction of Bay Ridge, forcing the driver of the Camry to slow down. But a Jeep Cherokee rear-ended the sedan, knocking it forward into Hu. Both vehicles remained on the scene, and authorities said they are still looking into the details of the incident.
Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights residents have long identified 65th Street as a harrowing thoroughfare, with rampant speeding and insufficient pedestrian protections, and have called upon the city to take measures to reduce dangerous driving and collisions.
“That continues to be a very busy, very difficult street to cross,” said Josephine Beckmann, district manager for Community Board 10.
The Department of Transportation has said the agency is studying the roadway and weighing treatments like repainting the lanes and creating left turn bays in order to improve safety.
A hit-and-run driver claimed the life of Dyker Heights grandfather Shui Jiang at the corner of 65th Street and Sixth Avenue in June 2013.