Yesterday, we tragically lost another young person in our community, when 14-year old Mohammed Uddin, a Kensington resident and student at Brooklyn Technical High School, was killed by a driver at Caton Avenue and E. 7th Street. First and foremost, my heart goes out to the Uddin family. Mohammad was a bright young man, with an older sister and a younger brother, well-liked by his class-mates, and a quiet but much-loved star in the Bangladeshi community in Kensington. Mohammad was crossing with the light, and in the crosswalk. The driver failed to yield, and then unconscionably left the scene of the accident. The NYPD have arrested her. We need meaningful action from the justice system here – something we’ve seen too little of in most crashes. I’ve spoken with Deputy Inspector Mike Ameri, commanding officer of the Highway Division (which oversees crash investigations) and Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson. I will continue working with them as the case moves forward. We must also attend to that very dangerous stretch of Caton Avenue – one where a new school is under construction. Just last week, I sent a letter to NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, asking DOT to come to our community with a plan to make this very intersection (and several nearby) safer for our kids and families. We are tragically too late for Mohammad. But we will have an obligation to honor his memory by making sure that this is never again the scene of a child’s death. We are making progress toward Vision Zero. We’ve made the intersections safer at Church Avenue and Ocean Parkway, and along nearby Albemarle Road. We have pedestrian safety projects underway at McDonald and Church, and McDonald and Fort Hamilton Parkway, and all across the district. But that was not enough to save Mohammad, or Ngozi Agbim, or Sammy Cohen-Eckstein – each of them irreplaceable, beautiful, much-loved members of our community. As the father of a 14-year old myself, I just don’t know how these families move forward. Meg and I would be simply crippled with grief (and I have been on the edge of tears all morning). But I have been so deeply inspired by the courage of Sammy’s mom, Amy Cohen, who turned her grief into advocacy and helped form Families for Safe Streets. Together, those grieving parents and family members just won an extraordinary change, reducing the NYC speed limit to 25 MPH. That did not save Mohammad, but it will save hundreds of lives in the months and years to come. Together, somehow, we must follow their example. This morning, I received an e-mail from a young woman who was a classmate of Sammy’s at MS 51, and of Mohammad’s at Brooklyn Tech. Mohammad, she wrote, “is the third student I know that has been run over by a car. I am very motivated in working on the Vision Zero project. I would love to work with you in raising awareness. Please contact me as soon as you can.” It won’t be soon enough.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 00:33:22 +0000
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