Oct. 11, 2023 By Bill Parry
A teenage motorcycle rider was killed in East Elmhurst on Tuesday night when he crashed into an MTA Q49 bus at the intersection of Astoria Boulevard and 101st Street, according to the NYPD.
Police from the 115th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision at around 11 p.m. on Oct. 10 and found the 16-year-old boy unconscious and unresponsive lying on the roadway with severe head trauma. The teenager was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision, police said.
EMS responded and pronounced the teen dead at the scene. The victim was later identified as Dylan Picaza, of Case Street in Elmhurst.
A preliminary investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that the empty Q49 out of the LaGuardia Depot was empty but in service, heading northbound on 101st Street and crossing the intersection of Astoria Boulevard, where there are six driving lanes in both directions, when Picaza, on board a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle traveling eastbound, crashed into the driver’s side of the bus and was thrown off the bike and into the roadway, police said.
The 52-year old bus operator remained at the scene and he was not injured or arrested.
The investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad remains ongoing.