Two truck drivers from the company involved in the death of a 28-year-old Brooklyn cyclist got into a shouting match with mourners at the site of the crash Wednesday.
Bike advocates and elected officials had just wrapped up an East Williamsburg vigil for artist Devra Freelander, who was struck and killed Monday by a United Transit Mix cement truck operator, when two of the company’s vehicles arrived at the intersection.
Vigil-goers began shouting at the drivers that Boerum Street, where the company is located and where Freelander was killed, is not a legal truck route. After that, one of the drivers exited his truck and the confrontation escalated, according to eyewitnesses.
“She made a mistake. How were we supposed to see her? We can’t see everyone,” the driver told the anguished crowd.
Police arrived, dispersed the crowd and proceeded to dole out truck-route violations to subsequent operators using the street.