Driver kills 91-year-old raking leaves in Morris Park
On Nov. 11, 2022, at Rhinelander and Radcliff avenues, a 59-year-old woman driving west in a Hyundai sedan hit 91-year-old Simone Canepa as he raked leaves outside his Morris Park home, and he died the next day.
What We Know
Simone Canepa was working outside his Radcliff Avenue home when a 59-year-old woman driving west on Rhinelander Avenue in a Hyundai sedan hit him, police told amNY. City crash data records the fatal collision at Rhinelander and Radcliff avenues at 5:20 p.m.; amNY reported police described the time as about 5:30 p.m. Canepa, 91, suffered severe head trauma and died at Jacobi Hospital the following day. The official record lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor, and amNY reported that the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad was investigating.
A man raking leaves was fatally injured outside his home.
The city crash record places the collision at 5:20 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2022, at Rhinelander Avenue and Radcliff Avenue. Police told amNY the crash happened at about 5:30 p.m., when Simone Canepa was raking leaves by his Radcliff Avenue home and a 59-year-old woman driving a Hyundai sedan west on Rhinelander Avenue hit him.
Canepa sustained severe head trauma and was taken to Jacobi Hospital, where he died the next day. amNY reported that the driver was not injured, stayed at the scene, and that the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad was investigating.
The crash happened along Radcliff Avenue in Morris Park.
The fatal crash was recorded at Rhinelander Avenue and Radcliff Avenue in the Bronx. CrashCountNYC’s location review for Radcliff Avenue logged 48 crashes, 19 injuries, 3 serious injuries and 1 death from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Simone Canepa was 91.
The official record identifies the person killed as a 91-year-old male pedestrian at an intersection, and amNY identified him as Simone Canepa, a Bronx man raking leaves outside his Morris Park home.
Unsafe speed is listed in the crash data.
The city crash record lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor. amNY reported that the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad continued to investigate the fatal collision.
Advocates pointed to a broader danger for older New Yorkers.
amNY reported that seniors make up less than 15 percent of New York City’s population but more than 45 percent of its traffic fatalities, citing a Department of Transportation report. In the Bronx, the same report found that seniors are 12 percent of the population but 31 percent of traffic deaths.
Families for Safe Streets member Irma Rosenblatt, quoted by Giampa Law from an AM New York interview, said: “Raking leaves should not be a death sentence.”