Driver killed wheelchair user at Kensington crossing
A 73-year-old driver in a Lexus SUV hit 68-year-old wheelchair user Joyce Greenberg at McDonald and Webster avenues in Brooklyn on July 23, 2023, and she died at Maimonides Medical Center.
What We Know
On July 23, 2023, a 73-year-old driver in a Lexus SUV was heading south on McDonald Avenue in Kensington when she hit Joyce Greenberg, a 68-year-old wheelchair user, as Greenberg crossed Webster Avenue, police told reporters. Responders took Greenberg to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. NYPD crash data placed the collision at the intersection and listed driver inattention or distraction for the SUV driver. The Daily News reported that the driver remained at the scene; Brooklyn Paper reported that the right of way was not immediately clear and that the Collision Investigation Squad was investigating.
The driver hit Greenberg as she crossed Webster Avenue
NYPD crash data records one pedestrian death at McDonald Avenue and Webster Avenue in Brooklyn at 1:29 p.m. on July 23, 2023. Police told reporters that a 73-year-old driver in a Lexus SUV was heading south on McDonald Avenue when she hit 68-year-old Joyce Greenberg as Greenberg crossed Webster Avenue in her wheelchair.
Emergency responders took Greenberg to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The Daily News reported that the driver remained at the scene.
McDonald Avenue has a long crash record
The crash happened at McDonald Avenue and Webster Avenue in Kensington, near the elevated F subway structure that runs above McDonald Avenue.
CrashCountNYC location context for McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn records 656 crashes, 426 injuries, 30 serious injuries and 3 deaths from 2022 through June 1, 2026.
Greenberg lived nearby, and a burial charity stepped in
The Daily News reported that Greenberg lived at Joseph Belsky House, an independent living facility on Lawrence Avenue about two blocks from where she was killed. Workers there described her as solitary and said she rarely joined group activities.
Chesed Shel Emes, a charity organization that provides free Jewish burials, arranged her burial after the group found she had no next of kin. Rabbi Solomon Feldman of the organization told the Daily News, “To bury someone who is a loner is one of the most important commandments that we have.”
Records and press accounts differ on occupants
NYPD crash data lists a 2016 Lexus SUV traveling south with one occupant, a licensed female driver from Pennsylvania. Brooklyn Paper reported that the driver was uninjured and that two passengers, ages 72 and 73, were also in the SUV.
The investigation focused on driver inattention
NYPD crash data listed driver inattention or distraction as the contributing factor for the SUV driver. Brooklyn Paper reported that investigators had not immediately determined who had the right of way, and that the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad was continuing its investigation.