A 54-year-old man has died after crashing his electric bicycle in Riverhead, on Long Island, in one of several e-bike crashes reported across the island in a single day, according to News 12 New York. Police identified the victim as John San Martino.
Riverhead town police said they responded to the Roanoke Plaza on Old Country Road at about 5:30 the previous evening. There, they found San Martino unconscious and in traumatic arrest in the back of the Ross parking lot, the station reported.
According to police, San Martino had been operating an electric bicycle when he collided with a chain-link fence. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, which ultimately proved fatal despite the response from emergency crews.
The death came just weeks after Riverhead police began actively enforcing stricter e-bike regulations. Those rules include age requirements, mandatory helmets, and speed restrictions, part of an effort by the town to make the roads safer, the station said.
The crash was part of a wider pattern that authorities on Long Island have been warning about, with multiple e-bike crashes reported in just one day. Suffolk County police have also said they are cracking down on illegal electric vehicles across the area.
Officials have pointed to safety concerns not only for the riders themselves but also for the pedestrians who share sidewalks and roadways with the vehicles. Even with the stepped-up enforcement, the fatal crash in Riverhead still unfolded on Old Country Road.