Brooklyn Man First Citi Bike Fatality

After four years and over 43 million trips, the country’s largest bike share program, Citi Bike, had its first fatality when Dan Hanegby was hit by a bus in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

Hanegby was a 36-year old investment banker who was riding a Citi Bike on 26th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues when he swerved to go around a parked van. He then hit the bus that was traveling next to him, fell off his bicycle and landed under the rear tires of the bus. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.

Although clearly an accident, and the first Citi Bike fatality, fatalities of bike riders in general in New York have been increasing. Bikers have been demanding more safeguards, especially since 2016’s bicyclist death count was larger than that of 2015. In 2017 there were four fatal bicycle accidents up until April in New York.

Hanegby worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse, and lived in Brooklyn with his wife Sasha, and two children. His neighbors described him as stoic, spending his weekends devoted to his family. He was originally from near Tel Aviv in Israel, and came to the US to attend Binghamton University in 2003. He later transferred to Brown.

In Israel, he was a tennis star, rising at one time to the rank of No. 1 in the country. He met his wife when he was ten years old at the Israel Tennis Centers. He quit tennis to join Israel’s Special Forces. After he was discharged from the army he took up tennis again, and headed to the USA to play at an American University. While at Brown he ranked No. 66 in singles tennis in the USA.