Driver Charged After 99-Year-Old Pedestrian Dies in Riverdale
A driver making a left turn in a 2022 Mazda CX-9 hit 99-year-old Bernice Schwartz in a marked crosswalk at West 235th Street and Oxford Avenue, and police later charged Brian Spira with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
What We Know
Bernice Schwartz, 99, was crossing at West 235th Street and Oxford Avenue in the Bronx at about 8:30 a.m. on July 27, 2022, when a driver making a left turn in a 2022 Mazda CX-9 hit her. She suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. The official crash record cites failure to yield right-of-way and lists glare for the driver. The Daily News reported two days later that police were also examining whether the driver ignored a stop sign and that no charges had been filed then. Later reports said police arrested Brian Spira and charged him with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
A left turn at the intersection
Police said a 53-year-old man driving a 2022 Mazda CX-9 was heading east on West 235th Street and turning left onto northbound Oxford Avenue when he hit Bernice Schwartz as she crossed the intersection. The official record identifies her as a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk and lists one pedestrian death and no other injuries.
Bernice Schwartz was near home
Schwartz was 99 and lived in Riverdale. The Daily News described her as a widow and grandmother who still walked in her neighborhood to shop or mail letters. Her daughter-in-law Judy Tydor Schwartz said, “She was indestructible. We were sure she was going to live forever.”
West 235th Street has an injury history
The crash happened at West 235th Street and Oxford Avenue in the Bronx. CrashCountNYC location context for West 235th Street shows 41 crashes, 16 injuries, one serious injury and one death since 2022.
Investigators focused on yielding and due care
The official crash record cites failure to yield right-of-way as a contributing factor and lists glare for the driver. The Daily News reported that police were investigating whether the driver ignored a stop sign, while later reports said Brian Spira was charged with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
She died at the hospital; the driver stayed
EMS took Schwartz to St. Barnabas Hospital with severe head trauma, and she was later pronounced dead. Police said the driver remained at the scene, and the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad investigated. Later reporting said Spira was arrested on April 26 during the ongoing investigation.