Bicyclist killed in collision with garbage truck in Center City
The 24-year-old cyclist was struck when the truck driver made a right turn onto 11th Street.
A 24-year-old cyclist was killed Tuesday morning in a collision with a private garbage truck in Center City, police said.
The victim and the truck were heading west on Spruce Street about 7:25 a.m. when the truck driver made a right turn onto 11th Street, said Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, a police spokesman. "At that point the sanitation truck did make contact with the bicyclist," he said.
The bicyclist, who was riding a small-wheel commuter bicycle with a rear basket, was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:50 a.m., police said. She was identified Wednesday as Emily C. Fredricks, of the 700 block of South Street.
Kinebrew said the driver was cooperating with investigators and no charges had been filed. Police did not identify the driver.
Kinebrew said the investigators were looking into a number of possible factors, including whether the driver in the truck saw the bicyclist or failed to yield. Police were also investigating whether either the victim or driver were distracted at the time, possibly by a cellphone.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia said the death was the third traffic fatality involving a bicyclist in the city this year.
Sarah Clark Stewart, the coalition's executive director, called on the city to quickly repaint the bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets, as it has promised, and to make bike lanes safer by installing flex barriers or protective curbs.
The coalition and the urbanist political action committee 5th Square announced they would host a candlelight vigil for the victim at 5 p.m. Wednesday at 11th and Spruce.
The truck involved in the collision is owned by Gold Medal Environmental, which is based in Deptford and has a facility in Southwest Philadelphia.
The company has had one other fatal accident in the last two years, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records show.
A Gold Medal worker riding on the back of a truck was killed in June in Cape May County when the vehicle ran off the road and sideswiped a utility pole, the Atlantic City Press reported.