Suspects at large after pickup truck driver fatally strikes cyclist in Queens during police chase

A woman killed by a pickup truck driver police say they were chasing on Tuesday night was an avid cyclist and was coming home from a biking event when she was struck, according to posts on a neighborhood Reddit forum.

Amanda Servedio, 36, was a member of the Bike and Brew cycling group and had an active profile on the exercise-focused social media app Strava. Her most recent long ride was on Saturday, when she looped 14 miles from Astoria to Central Park, her profile shows.

Just three days later, Servedio was killed at the intersection of 37th Street and 34th Avenue by the driver of a Dodge Ram pickup who was fleeing police, her family confirmed.

NYPD officials say officers were trying to pull over the truck in Astoria around 11 p.m. because it was being sought in connection with a 911 call about an attempted burglary at a construction site about a mile away on Crescent Street.

Police say the driver sped away. Surveillance video viewed by Gothamist showed what happened a short time later: The pickup truck flew through an intersection and slammed into Servedio, who had the right of way with a green light.

Witness Jake Kwok says he was walking his dog at the time and crossed the street just seconds before the collision.

“The truck was really going fast,” he said on Wednesday. “The lady didn’t even stand a chance, because the hood of the car was the height of her bicycle.”

Kwok pointed out the dented, blood-stained hood of a BMW parked down the block, where he said Servedio landed. The strength of the impact threw Servedio about 30 feet in the air, based on the distance between the intersection and the BMW.

Police said the driver of the pickup truck stopped after hitting Servedio, and three men who got out fled on foot. The NYPD has not announced any arrests in the incident.

“The cops stopped from chasing the guy and went over to look at the lady. She was unresponsive,” Kwok recalled. “What shocks me the most — I’m probably the last person she ever saw before the incident.”

According to the NYPD, the responding officers rendered aid to Servedio. The pickup, which had obscured license plates, was later recovered unoccupied near Newton Road and 47th Street, about half a mile from the intersection.

Neighbors passing by the crash scene on Wednesday expressed doubt over whether police were right to chase the pickup truck at high speed on a busy street.

“I think that it’s absolutely irresponsible that the New York Police Department is doing car chases,” said Adelaida Tamayo, who lives across the street from the scene. “We need policing change and we need responsibility on the part of the New York Police Department.”

The NYPD did not immediately respond to questions about whether the incident violated any of its guidelines for chases, and what speed the officer was driving. The NYPD’s patrol guide states that police pursuits “must be terminated when the danger to the public outweighs the benefits of apprehending the perpetrator.”

Police chases skyrocketed from 2022 to 2023 under Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, according to a report last year by news outlet The City. Police engaged in more than 300 chases in the first quarter of 2023, nearly seven times higher than in the same period in 2022, according to the report.