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It took a lawsuit from the family of Mathieu Lefevre to pry information from NYPD regarding the hit-and-run crash that took his life. Now they have reason to believe the police are still withholding vital evidence.

Last week, Streetsblog reported that NYPD had released a detailed description of how the crash unfolded, supposedly based on security video from a business located at 157 Morgan Avenue. But the footage NYPD gave the Lefevre family does not convey the same details as the descriptions of video in the police investigative file.

Here is the description of a security video from 157 Morgan submitted by Detective Gerard Sheehan. It delves into specific detail about the crash:

Here are two videos captured from 157 Morgan that NYPD gave to the Lefevres and their attorney, Steve Vaccaro, showing footage at the intersection immediately before Leonardo Degianni, who fatally struck Lefevre and then left the scene, turned on to Meserole Street. In the first clip, the crane truck operated by Degianni enters the frame at about the 4:50 mark, and a cyclist is briefly visible at about the 5:02 mark. In the second clip, the truck enters the frame slightly after the 6:50 mark. In neither video is the moment Degianni struck Lefevre plainly visible.

(Streetsblog transferred these videos from AVI files NYPD provided to the Lefevres and Vaccaro. The original files supplied by NYPD displayed the videos upside down — you can see how they appeared at the end of this post.)

Adding to the discrepancies, a second police description of security video does not match Sheehan’s description or the videos in the investigative file. The description from Detective Sheehan says that Lefevre was initially struck by the “passenger right side” of Degianni’s truck, which threw him “into the roadway” before Degianni struck him again. A second description, from officer Armand Tasca, says Lefevre “rode directly into the side of the truck as it made the right turn” (note that both Sheehan and Tasca wrote that Degianni and Lefevre were traveling north on Morgan, when they were in fact traveling south — see crash diagram at the end of this post):

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The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes will conduct a review into the death of cyclist Mathieu Lefevre, according to the borough’s top prosecutor for vehicular crimes.

Craig Esswein, chief of the vehicular crimes bureau, told Streetsblog that reviewing deadly traffic crashes is standard procedure. “Any time there’s a fatality the NYPD does their investigation, and we do our own.”

Lefevre’s death at the hands of a hit-and-run truck driver in Williamsburg last October has made headlines, owing to revelations that NYPD withheld details of the crash from the victim’s family and failed to gather evidence at the scene. Asked about NYPD’s handling of the investigation, Esswein said, “We will be looking into the matter.”

Though no photos of the scene have been released to the Lefevre family — police reportedly didn’t take pictures due to a broken camera — Esswein says they do exist. He says those pictures will be examined along with video of the collision, which according to NYPD records shows that the truck driver dragged Lefevre and his bike for several yards as he made an unsignaled right-hand turn. “We’re going to review it all,” said Esswein.

In a statement issued this week, Mathieu’s mother Erika Lefevre revealed that NYPD has charged the driver, identified by police as Leonardo Degianni, for failure to signal and failure to exercise due care. To date, no charges have been issued for the victim’s death, or for leaving the scene of a fatal crash. “We urge the Kings County District Attorney’s Office to carefully review this case,” wrote Lefevre, “and bring appropriate charges.”

Lefevre’s family and friends have launched a letter-writing campaign to Hynes’ office asking for a careful review of the case. More information is available here.

The hit-and-run truck driver who killed cyclist Mathieu Lefevre last October struck the victim with his front driver’s side tire, according to a description in NYPD’s investigative file shared by Lefevre’s family. The description, based largely on video evidence police obtained in December, raises serious questions about the driver’s claim that he was not aware he had struck Lefevre when he left the scene of the fatal collision.

Police released the investigative file on Friday, three weeks after Lefevre’s family filed a suit under the Freedom of Information Law to obtain materials related to the investigation.

In a statement released today [PDF], Erika Lefevre, the victim’s mother, revealed that NYPD has now issued traffic summonses to the crane truck driver, Leonardo Degianni, for failure to exercise due care and failing to signal, but no criminal charges. The statement criticizes NYPD for not charging Degianni with fleeing the scene and criminal negligence, given evidence that Degianni’s front bumper and driver’s side front wheel struck Mathieu Lefevre. The Lefevres are appealing to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to review the case.

The Lefevre case has shed light on an aspect of policing that NYPD is loath to conduct transparently. Police and press accounts of traffic fatalities tend to be riddled with gaps, and witness accounts from crash scenes often depict police failing to pursue potential lines of inquiry. Thanks to the Lefevres’ determined pursuit of the truth, the public not only has a better sense of what caused Mathieu Lefevre’s death, but how NYPD conducts crash investigations.

Evidence in the Lefevre file summarized by their attorney, Steve Vaccaro, directly contradicts at least one NYPD account of the crash, in which a police source said the victim ran a red light. The NYPD file indicates that Lefevre and Degianni were passing through the intersection of Meserole Street and Morgan Avenue simultaneously, with a green light, when Degianni turned across Lefevre’s path, without signaling, as the cyclist continued straight.

The new evidence is only coming to light after the victim’s family relentlessly pressed the NYPD to disclose information related to the crash.

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The family of Mathieu Lefevre has filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for refusing to release information related to the hit-and-run collision that killed the 30-year-old Brooklyn cyclist last October.

According to the complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court on December 30 [PDF], NYPD denied a freedom of information request from Lefevre’s parents seeking records pertaining to the crash, on the grounds that the investigation is ongoing. The Lefevres appealed, citing their belief that the records in question are not exempt from disclosure under the law. NYPD failed to respond, effectively denying the appeal.

NYPD routinely denies access to information on deadly crashes, often based on the claim that releasing even the most rudimentary details would jeopardize crash investigations. The Lefevre lawsuit challenges that practice, based in part on the fact that NYPD has declared that no charges will be filed for Mathieu’s death.

The summary of the lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Lefevres by attorney Steve Vaccaro of Rankin & Taylor, reads in part:

NYPD admits that it possesses records requested by the Lefevres, but has stonewalled for nearly two months, refusing to disclose those records without a valid justification. The two grounds advanced by NYPD for withholding the records are completely lacking in merit.

First, NYPD asserts that it can withhold all records concerning Lefevre’s death, so long as its investigation of his death is still open. That is incorrect. FOIL exempts from disclosure only records the release of which would interfere with an ongoing investigation. NYPD does not suggest even the possibility of such interference.

Second, NYPD asserts that release of records concerning Lefevre’s death would jeopardize an impartial trial or adjudication. But NYPD has already announced there will be no criminal charges related to Lefevre’s death. Absent criminal charges, there is no right to a trial by jury, and therefore no chance of a tainted adjudication.

In December Vaccaro sent a letter to NYPD indicating that, according to officers involved in the case, the department’s Accident Investigation Squad has all but concluded that the truck driver who hit Lefevre, identified in the crash report as Leonardo Degianni, was unaware of the collision. The letter also points to conflicting accounts of the collision from NYPD, and says Vaccaro was told that the AIS lost vital evidence. (Disclosure: Vaccaro represented Streetsblog for our freedom of information request to obtain documents from CUNY related to the effort to erase the Prospect Park West bike lane.)

“The Lefevres seek only to learn the truth about the death of their son,” reads the suit summary. “NYPD’s stated reasons for hiding the truth from the Lefevres plainly lack merit.”

The attorney representing the family of Mathieu Lefevre has sent a letter to NYPD that raises serious questions about the investigation of the hit-and-run crash that took the 30-year-old artist’s life.

The five-page letter from attorney Steve Vaccaro indicates that the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad has all but concluded that crane truck driver Leonardo Degianni was unaware that he had run over Lefevre and his bike at the intersection of Morgan Avenue and Meserole Street in East Williamsburg just after midnight on October 19. (Disclosure: Vaccaro represented Streetsblog for our freedom of information request to obtain documents from CUNY related to effort to erase the Prospect Park West bike lane.)

Vaccaro, writing on behalf of the Lefevres to Sergeant Matthew Bono of NYPD’s Highway Patrol Unit #2 in Flatbush, points to numerous shortcomings and gaps in the department’s handling of the case, and requests vital information that NYPD has yet to clarify or make available to the Lefevre family:

• Based on conversations with Bono and investigating officer Detective Sheehan, Vaccaro writes: “Because leaving the scene was the only criminal charge considered this case, my understanding is that AIS’s consideration of potential criminal charges has concluded. You did indicate that AIS is still considering whether a traffic violation should be issued.”
• Vaccaro was told that the AIS lost crucial evidence: “Detective Sheehan told me on December 7 that the blood he found on the front bumper of the truck that killed Mathieu was not collected or sampled by AIS. He explained to me that crime scene technicians responsible for collecting such samples were not available because they were investigating more serious crimes. According to Detective Sheehan, Mathieu’s blood found on the truck’s front bumper as rain was beginning to fall, and was therefore washed away without any collection or sampling. We have not been told whether AIS personnel photographed or otherwise preserved or recorded the fact of the blood and its location on the truck.” Other evidence, including Mathieu’s helmet and backpack, remains unaccounted for.
• Police told Vaccaro that a video recording of the crash has been reviewed by AIS, and that a toxicology report conducted on Lefevre would be forthcoming. Asks Vaccaro: “Has Degianni himself been asked to submit to toxicology tests of the type being performed on the remains of Mathieu Lefevre?”
• NYPD apparently has not settled on an official version of the crash, despite its crash report that shows that Lefevre was hit from behind. During one phone call, Sgt. Bono told Vaccaro, “we don’t think that he hit him with the front end of the truck.” When Vaccaro asked how Mathieu’s blood could have been on the front end of the truck, Bono replied, “I’m not saying he did and I’m not saying he didn’t hit him with the front end.” Bono’s comments seem to reflect early reports, attributed to unnamed NYPD sources, which indicated that Lefevre was sideswiped or was the victim of a “right hook.”

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Three days after 6-year-old Max Mendez was killed by an MTA tow truck operator while walking with his mother to the Wagner Pool at 124th Street, the story that's emerging suggests that motorist negligence may have contributed to the deadly collision. The only constant among the press coverage, however, is that the police suspect "no criminality."

On Friday, most news reports made it seem as though Max and his mother, who was injured and survived, ran into the path of a truck driver responding to a disabled vehicle on the Triborough Bridge. Here's how the Post first relayed information from police on the scene:

A 7-year-old boy was struck and killed by an MTA towtruck in East Harlem as he jaywalked across an entrance ramp to the Triboro Bridge with his pregnant mother, police said.

This location (which is not elevated above the street, as you might expect when picturing "an entrance ramp," but where police believe pedestrians are "prohibited" anyway, according to the Daily News) provides a direct connection between a pedestrian island on the east side of Second Avenue and a block with pools and basketball courts. Yet the first round of coverage was rife with implications that Max and his mother, Erika Lorenza, were in a place they had no business being.

As more details have come to light, the story has changed. On Saturday, the Post reported that the truck driver was disembarking from the sidewalk, and that Max and Lorenza were not in the roadbed:

Max Mendez, a second-grader at PS 197, and his mother were holding hands on the sidewalk near 124th Street at around 9 a.m. when the truck slammed into them...

Cops said the yellow MTA Bridges and Tunnels truck was parked on the sidewalk and started moving to respond to a disabled vehicle on the bridge, police at the scene said.

Some witnesses told the Post that the truck driver was on his phone at the time of the collision. And the Journal reports that he didn't check in front of him before pulling out from the sidewalk:

Witnesses said it appeared that the driver, who hasn't been identified, looked behind him to make sure he wasn't pulling out in front of traffic. In doing so, they said, he failed to see the two pedestrians in front of him.

There are discrepancies between accounts of the collision, but there seems to be a significant likelihood that the truck driver failed to exercise due care in a situation that demanded extreme caution. Still, from the earliest reports onward, including this ABC 7 piece filed while the driver was still being interviewed, police have told reporters that they "suspect no criminality." Why?

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The death of Aileen McKay-Dalton, a mother of three who was struck and killed by an SUV driver while riding her Vespa earlier this month, has galvanized friends, neighbors, and Fort Greene residents trying to make sense of their sudden loss and the anemic NYPD response that followed.

In the late afternoon on Thursday, July 8, McKay-Dalton was traveling west on DeKalb Avenue when she was struck and killed by the driver of a Ford Explorer traveling north on Clinton Avenue. While witness accounts relayed online and in the press indicate that the SUV driver, who remains unidentified, may have been speeding and running a red light, the NYPD has declined to file charges.

Police told the Daily News that no one witnessed the crash, but at a vigil held for McKay-Dalton last week, the driver who was trailing the SUV said the NYPD simply didn't seek out accounts that would help determine culpability:

One witness to the crash spoke at the vigil. Tara Simoncic, who was driving behind the Ford Explorer at the time of the collision, said, "In my opinion, the police were not receptive" to her and other witnesses on the scene.  She says that after approaching a police officer and asking if he wanted her to stay and give her account of the accident, he replied, "I have more important things to worry about right now. If you want to go, go. If you want to stay, stay."

A police spokesperson said that the crash was investigated by officers, including some from the Accident Investigation Squad, which responds to serious accidents.

So far, more than 300 people have signed a petition organized by Council Member Tish James urging the mayor and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to re-open the case. The office of Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes has opened its own crash investigation, which may seek to answer whether and why the NYPD failed to follow up with witnesses.

Some speculation about the lackluster investigation has hinged on the identity of the driver, whose vehicle was registered to the Treasury Department, according to the Daily News. But regardless of the driver's identity, the NYPD response to this crash fits a well-established pattern: As Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White noted at last week's vigil, 71 percent of fatal crashes and 60 percent of crashes that cause injuries involve moving violations, according to state DMV data, but sober motorists who stay at the scene rarely face charges, even when their actions destroy lives. 

Nearly 300 New Yorkers are killed and more than 70,000 are injured by car collisions every year. Traffic is the number one risk of injury-related death for city children. And yet, we are served by a police force that, through its enforcement of traffic laws, operation of its own motor vehicles, and investigations into automobile crashes, displays a habitual disregard for the lethal consequences of reckless and negligent driving.

With at least six crashes leaving three injured and two pedestrians and a cyclist dead, it has been a particularly hellish week to walk and bike the streets of New York. And while information about such incidents is vital to making conditions safer and preventing future fatalities, NYPD continues to withhold crash reports from the public.

On December 14, 2009, Streetsblog reader BicyclesOnly submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for documents related to the investigation of the crash that killed cyclist Solange Raulston, who was struck by a truck driver on Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint on December 13. On December 21, NYPD denied the request on the grounds that it "would interfere with law enforcement investigations and/or judicial proceedings." The denial was appealed on January 8. At that time, information as basic as the exact location of the crash remained unknown.

In a letter from NYPD dated March 29 -- three-and-a-half months after Raulston was killed -- the appeal was denied, again citing an "ongoing investigation." As allowed by law, the next step would be to appeal the denial to the State Supreme Court, which must be done within four months.

In January, Streetsblog filed 10 FOIL requests in fatality cases where press reports either made no mention of charges against the driver or indicated that the driver was immediately cleared of culpability. To date, NYPD has issued denials for seven of those requests. We have appealed those denials, and will continue to file requests for reports on subsequent crashes.

We couldn't help notice that, while police information czar Paul Browne was seemingly chatting up every media outlet in town about his boss coming to the aid of a fallen pedestrian this week, we were adding two letters to our stack of NYPD freedom of information rejections. 

As we announced last week, in most of the pedestrian fatality cases for which we've filed FOIL requests, authorities have reportedly determined the driver was not at fault. Some cases are months old. Yet of the 10 requests submitted so far, NYPD has declined to release any information pertaining to eight deaths. By contrast, within hours the department supplied the press with meticulous details of Wednesday's collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian, a scene Commissioner Ray Kelly happened upon en route to the St. Patrick's Day parade. We can't sum up the double-standard any better than Streetsblog reader BicyclesOnly:

This is blatant manipulation of public information by the NYPD and they've got to be called on it. The media should demand an explanation from Browne right now as to why there is a different policy concerning release of public information on crashes depending upon the identify of the victim.

Of course there was no such demand from reporters, who were content to package Wednesday's incident as a heartwarming slice-of-life feature.

Meanwhile, the City Council may soon try to force NYPD to loosen its grip on crash information for the good of all New Yorkers who don't happen to fall in the presence of our heroic police commissioner.

At the beginning of the year, Streetsblog embarked on a project we hope will shed light on city pedestrian and cyclist fatalities that appear to have been written off as blameless "accidents." To date, we have filed freedom of information requests with NYPD pertaining to 10 pedestrian deaths, and will be reporting on the progress of those requests, along with those submitted in the future.

It's no secret that NYPD takes a proprietary approach to traffic death data. Even family members are kept waiting for details about incidents that took the lives of loved ones. So though our goal is to examine crash investigations themselves, this effort will be as much about the process of extracting information from police.

Case in point: Our initial 10 requests were mailed on January 27. The date of the earliest fatality was November 30 of 2009, the most recent January 26. Today we received denials from NYPD for six of those requests. Here's the legalese as it appears above:

In regard to the document(s) which you requested, I must deny access to these records on the basis of Public Officers Law section 87(2)(g)(iii) as such records/information does not represent final agency determination.

Note that this reasoning differs from that cited in denying information about the death of cyclist Solange Raulston.

The crashes referenced in our requests resulted in the deaths of Frank Justich, Arthur Katz, Mary Mason, Virginia McKibbin, Abundio Mendez-Perez, Joe Rollino, Edith Shaller, Catorino Solis, and two unidentified victims -- one in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan. In each of these cases, press reports either made no mention of charges against the driver or indicated that the driver was already cleared of culpability. In their letters to us, NYPD did not provide names to match their file numbers, so at this point we are following up to ascertain which requests were denied.

As allowed by law, we will appeal NYPD's denials. We'll keep you updated.