He got a bike for his 8th birthday. He was killed riding it

The bicycle was a present two years ago for Dalerjon Shahobiddinov’s eighth birthday. He chose the model himself: It was bright orange, sprinkled with black and white dots.

“He was so happy and excited to ride it,” the boy’s father, Djahongir Djalolov, said.

The bike was big and heavy. His father or his older sister would usually carry it down the three flights of stairs from their Brooklyn apartment. On a recent Saturday, Dalerjon took it out for a ride with his friends.

The ride would be his last one.

Dalerjon, 10, was hit and killed Oct. 5 by an unlicensed driver while biking steps from his home in the Kensington neighbourhood. The boy’s 14-year-old sister knows her brother is gone, but his 5-year-old sister keeps wondering when he is coming back.

“She is asking, where is he?” Djalolov said. “Is he coming already?” They tell her: “He is far away. When you grow old you will see him.”

His death comes at a time when biking fatalities across the city have surged. So far, 25 cyclists have been killed in 2019, 15 more than in all of last year and the highest number in two decades.

While the numbers are stark, they fail to capture the anguish behind every death, the sudden and violent loss of a mother, father, daughter or son. Dalerjon’s death has devastated his family. Photos of the boy dominate the living room, where his father struggled to speak about what happened to his son.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared the increase in deaths an “emergency” and officials have pledged to take steps, such as adding more bike lanes, re-timing traffic signals to give cyclists priority and redesigning intersections, to make the streets safer. Still, de Blasio has come under criticism from bicycling advocates who say he is moving too slowly.

Dalerjon lived on a relatively narrow two-way street with no bike lane. His family had strict rules for when he went outside, they said. He was not allowed to go farther than a block from home, and nearby Ocean Parkway, a busy, multilane thoroughfare, was off-limits.

“He knew that the rules were to remain in the perimeter,” Djalolov said, speaking mostly in Russian through a translator.

The family emigrated from Uzbekistan about a decade ago after winning a green card in a lottery. But beyond talking about his son, Djalolov did not want to provide many details because he wanted to protect his family’s privacy.

On the day he died, Dalerjon wanted to wake up around 5am, earlier than usual, to go with friends to a neighbourhood mosque for morning prayers, Djalolov, 39, said.

Peestrians walk through the intersection where Dalerjon Shahobiddinov, 10, was hit and killed while riding his bike, in Brooklyn, Oct 23, 2019. The New York Times

By the time Dalerjon returned home for breakfast, he was too restless to eat. He wanted to play outside with his friends like he usually did on weekends.

His father did not know that his son’s bike was already downstairs.

Dalerjon did not make it far. At about 10:30am, as he rode his bike in the crosswalk on Foster Avenue, a man driving a 2002 Ford Explorer on Seton Place turned left onto Foster Avenue after the light turned green and hit the boy, according to a criminal complaint.

The man, Victor Mejia, got out of his car. Dalerjon was on the road, unresponsive and severely injured, the complaint said.

The boy’s crumpled orange bike was caught under the sport utility vehicle. Mejia remained at the scene, shaken by the accident, his lawyer, James Kirshner, said.

Dalerjon was taken to Maimonides Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead. Mejia, 29, was later arrested and charged with driving without a license, failing to exercise due care and failing to yield to a pedestrian.

If he is convicted, the most severe punishment he would face is a three-month jail sentence.

Mejia declined requests for an interview.

“He didn’t see the boy,” Kirshner said. “Mejia and his family are remorseful and feel bad for what occurred. It was a tragic accident.”

Mejia is a construction worker from Guatemala who lives in Brooklyn with his wife, his lawyer said. The morning that Dalerjon died, Mejia was driving to a friend’s house.

Dalerjon’s death has shaken the neighbourhood, where far fewer children are now riding their bikes on the streets.

 “I’m scared,” said Mokhigul Tukhliyeda, who has four children. “I’m not allowing my kids to go outside.”

Her 5-year-old son’s scooter has been put away and her 14-year-old son is not likely to get the bike he keeps asking for, Tukhliyeda, 36, said.

“No way,” she said. “I’m not buying it for now.”

Estee Halberstam, who recently moved to the neighbourhood, said it did not take her long to realise the challenge its streets pose.

“There’s no place for the kids to play, and there’s nearly no place for the cars to drive,” Halberstam, 24, said. “Unless you are extremely cautious, it almost makes sense that something like that could happen. It could have been me driving.”

The city’s transportation commissioner, Polly Trottenberg, said several factors have contributed to the rising death toll on New York’s streets: a surging internet economy that has resulted in more truck traffic, the popularity of sport utility vehicles and the transformation of once industrial areas into residential neighbourhoods, especially in Brooklyn.

Trottenberg said officials “have been horrified at this year’s loss of life and grieve especially hard for the 11 children lost this year, including those on their bicycles.”

The spot where Dalerjon was killed is a typical city intersection where parking is permitted close to the crosswalk, limiting visibility, said Marco Conner, a deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, a group that promotes bicycling.

“This is where elected officials and communities need to decide whether they want to prioritise saving someone’s life or parking,” Conner said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

Since Dalerjon’s death, city officials have imposed new parking restrictions along the street where he was killed to create more room and improve sightlines.

Inside Dalerjon’s apartment, his father struggled to talk about the boy he brought from Uzbekistan when he was a baby.

“That’s enough,” Djalolov said more than once, placing his palms over his face. “I’ve said everything.” But minutes later, he would break his silence to describe photos and videos of the boy he keeps on his phone.

Dalerjon would spend hours on his iPad watching YouTube videos of the police chasing suspects or the Dobre Brothers, four brothers who post videos of themselves dancing and doing backflips. He also made his own videos. In one, the boy and his older sister challenge each other to see who could eat a dish of spicy noodles without taking a sip of water.

“He was a unique boy,” Djalolov said. “Everyone loved and adored him.”

His younger sister sat with the boy’s iPad on her lap as she swiped and pointed at photos of her brother with pride.

There he was, with his body half buried in the sand at Brighton Beach or riding his bike outside a deli.

Photos of the boy also filled the living room, including one in which he wore a tuxedo at a recent family wedding. One table held his favorite chocolates, Ferrero Rocher truffles wrapped in gold foil.

He also enjoyed dress-up games. Some days he was a pizza cook, a firefighter or a police officer, which was what he planned to be on Halloween.

His room is still full of his toys. His bike, however, is no longer there. It is in the hands of the Police Department, being used as evidence as the authorities continue to investigate the boy’s death.

© 2019 New York Times News Service