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United States | Midwest | Ohio >> Woman Run Over By Drunk Driver During NYC Century Bike Tour Has Died

Woman Crushed by Drunk Driver at the NYC Century Bike Tour Has Died

Nancy Pease has passed away, after a drunk, unlicensed driver plowed into her and other NYC Century Bike Tour riders in Brooklyn, NYC

Pease was a teacher and loved singing and running. She was a board member of the Oratorio Society of Queens and a member of Long Island City Runners Club.

Family member Christopher Pease wrote on social media "We are deeply saddened, but we have found no shortage of comfort in all of your kindness and support throughout this ordeal, Nancy was such an awesome human being...confident, adventurous, smart, and caring,".

Family member Stephanie Soricelli Scocchera wrote on Facebook. "She was a teacher like I was and that was a major topic of conversation between the two of us."

A drunk driver plowed into a group of cyclists leaving Pease pinned underneath a Dodge Caravan. Police, ambulance and firefighters worked tirelessly to free her.

Pease was in a coma at Maimonides Hospital, where she underwent treatment for liver laceration, abdominal bleeding, traumatic brain injury, and an injury to her spleen requiring its removal but 12 days later she passed away.

Police revealed the driver was 39 year old Antonio Pina who was immediately arrested for driving while intoxicated. Police have quickly charged Pina with DWI and Vehicular Assault Charges. His blood alcohol concentration was recorded at .266, passing a threshold that experts say can lead to "near total loss of motor functions, little response to stimuli, inability to stand or walk, vomiting, and incontinence. 

Morocho was charged last month with vehicular assault, driving without a license, and driving while impaired. He was ordered held on $250,000 bail by Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Joseph McCormick.

The NYC Century Bike Tour is an annual ride that draws thousands of cyclists to four separate routes throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Transportation Alternatives, a group that advocates for safer streets, hosts the event, which is intended to "showcase a carefully curated section of the city's now 1,000+ miles of bike lane networks and greenways."

Since the NYC Century Bike Tour's launch in 1990, it's the first time a serious collision has occurred, according to the group.

"Our opinion continues to be that this was such a senseless act of violence, and Nancy was doing something that a quarter of a million New Yorkers do on a regular basis: riding her bike on a beautiful day," Transportation Alternatives spokeswoman Caroline Samponaro said Friday. "We're devastated, and more committed to our mission to design streets that make it impossible for drivers like this one to do what he did."

RIP: Pease was a teacher and loved singing and running. She was a board member of the Oratorio Society of Queens and a member of Long Island City Runners Club.