Olga Cook story, west side highway tragedy
The husband of cyclist Olga Cook, who was killed by a drunk driver last June at the intersection of West and Chambers Streets, is suing the City of New York, the State of New York, the Hudson River Park Trust, and the Battery Park City Authority over her death.
Ms. Cook was run over at approximately 8:00 pm on the evening of June 11, 2016 when a white Ford truck, driven by a 26-year-old Samuel Silva, traveling southbound on West Street, made an abrupt right turn onto westbound Chambers Street, and struck Ms. Cook, who was riding north along the Hudson River Park Greenway.
Olga Cook,the 30-year-old newlywed and triathlete who was killed by a drunk driver while cycling in Battery Park City on June 11, 2016.
"There were 17 prior crashes at just this location, in the years preceding Olga's death," says attorney Daniel Flanzig, who is representing Ms. Cook's husband, Travis Maclean. "And five of those incidents also resulted in serious injuries. And there have been multiple deaths of cyclists at other locations in the Hudson River Park's bike path."
Mr. Maclean, "has slowly begun to put his life back together," Mr. Flanzig notes, "in part by starting a charity, Olga's Path, which is dedicated to making New York City safer for bicyclists." While the suit seeks, "unspecified monetary damages,"
Mr. Flanzig says, it is also about, "making sure there are no more deaths like Olga's. The changes that the City has made to the turn signal and lanes at that intersection are valuable, but we need similar changes for the entire length of the Greenway in Hudson River Park. This suit is a way of making that happen, because it creates a record that puts government agencies on notice, and increases their liability for similar tragedies in the future."