Driver charged in East 77th Street pedestrian death
A driver making a left turn in a 2007 Toyota pickup hit 66-year-old William Maeder as he crossed with the signal at East 77th Street and First Avenue; Maeder died the next day, and police later charged Joshua Seals.
What We Know
William Maeder, 66, was crossing East 77th Street at First Avenue just before 6 p.m. on May 3, 2022, when a driver making a left turn in a 2007 Toyota pickup hit him. The official record says Maeder was crossing with the signal at the intersection. Patch reported that Maeder died the next day at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Nearly a year later, police arrested Brooklyn resident Joshua Seals, 35, and charged him with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. The city crash record lists alcohol involvement, and the pickup record lists alcohol involvement and failure to yield right-of-way.
A left turn at First Avenue
The crash happened at about 5:55 p.m. on May 3, 2022, at East 77th Street and First Avenue. The official record says the pickup driver was making a left turn, and Patch reported that the driver turned from First Avenue onto East 77th Street before hitting William Maeder as he crossed the street.
First Avenue has seen repeated serious harm
The crash happened at East 77th Street and First Avenue on the Upper East Side. CrashCountNYC's 1st Avenue corridor view for Manhattan recorded 2,522 crashes, 1,527 injuries, 137 serious injuries and 12 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
William Maeder died the next day
The official record identifies the person killed as a 66-year-old male pedestrian who was crossing with the signal at the intersection. Patch identified him as William Maeder, an Upper East Side resident whose home on East 72nd Street was blocks from the crash site, and reported that he died the next day at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Police charged the driver nearly a year later
Patch reported that police arrested Joshua Seals, 35, of Brooklyn, 345 days after the crash and charged him with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. The article said police reported that Seals had remained at the scene.