A 43-year-old Upper West Side woman has emerged from a coma nearly two weeks after being mowed down by an e-biker while jogging in Central Park and left with a traumatic brain injury — but her full recovery is far from assured, relatives fear.
The coming weeks will likely tell what lies ahead for the woman, only identified by her family as Jean.
An avid runner, Jean was jogging in the pedestrian lane on the park’s West Drive at 64th St., near the Heckscher Ballfields, on July 7 around 4:30 p.m., when she was struck by a 26-year-old man on a “two-wheeled vehicle,” according to police. The incident was first reported by the West Side Rag.
Barely conscious and moaning and unable to answer questions, according to witnesses, she was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she was checked in as “Jane Doe.” Her father was ultimately reached through her cell phone.
To relieve brain swelling, doctors removed part of her skull, and she was put into a medically induced coma, relatives said.
The cyclist who crashed into her stayed at the scene, but was not charged or arrested, according to police.
Brandi Wiltse, 31, the jogger’s niece, said doctors decided last Thursday it was safe to remove Jean — who had been heavily sedated — from her medically induced coma. The next day, she opened her eyes. Since then she’s been able to say her name and a few words a few times, but at other times loses her verbal ability altogether. She is not yet responding to verbal cues, such as when asked to wave or give a thumbs up.
“For the type of traumatic brain injury she received, it’s very common that it’s gonna take a while, that she’s gonna be groggy,” Wiltse said.
Witness Hoon Chan Sim, 53, was sitting on a park lawn with his dog near West Drive when he was startled by the squeal of braking tires, and spun around to see the horrific collision.
“The victim, she was on the running track,” Sim said, referring to the pedestrian lane. “She was looking northbound. She wasn’t running or moving that fast. Then the e-bike going too fast just struck her. She fell forward, hitting her head, I guess.”
He said the cyclist was heading north — going the wrong way, against the park loop’s counterclockwise direction — when he hit Jean from behind.
A photo Sim snapped right after the crash shows both jogger and bike lying on the ground in the pedestrian lane. As a crowd gathered, blood could be seen coming out of her ears, he said.
Sim said the e-biker was questioned by cops for 20 minutes before being let go.
Jean grew up on Long Island and attended New York University, then chose to stay on in the city. She lives near the American Museum of Natural History, relatives said.
“She likes being around all the people, the hustle and bustle,” her niece said. “She jogged, I would say, daily.”
Beyond her brain injury, Jean suffered a broken elbow and deep leg lacerations requiring a skin graft.
Further complicating Jean’s situation, the jogger was recently laid off from her marketing job, and to save money had been forgoing her health insurance. A GoFundMe Wiltse launched has raised nearly $30,000 for her, quickly surpassing its target of $18,000, with many donations by “total strangers,” she said.
The funds will help pay the rent on Jean’s apartment for the next two months so she’s not homeless after leaving the hospital. The money will also go to bring Wiltse’s mom and stepdad, who live in Georgia, up to New York so they can care for Jean. Any funds beyond immediate expenses will go toward her medical care and recovery.
Wiltse is hoping police will fully investigate the incident and, if the cyclist is found to have been negligent, that he’ll face charges. The NYPD did not return an email requesting an update on the investigation Friday.
The violent collision has reignited concerns about e-bikes and pedestrian safety, particularly in the iconic Manhattan park.
While cars were banned from Central Park in 2018, e-bikes were officially allowed in the park as of June 2023 under a city pilot program. Technically, it’s still a pilot, with e-bikers supposed to adhere to a 15-mph speed limit.
Since they’re heavier and faster than traditional bikes, when an e-bike hits someone, the impact is worse.
The nonprofit NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, whose members include victims of traumatic e-bike collisions, wants the city to license all e-bikes — plus end the pilot currently allowing them in Central Park.
“We believe it’s the one oasis left where we should not have motorists and heavy bicyclists that are really more for transportation than recreation,” Janet Schroeder, EVSA’s founder, said of the park.
Schroeder mentioned another woman, 80, now an EVSA member, who was run down by an e-biker on April 16, 2024, shattering her leg, at the same location Jean was struck.
Schroeder says crashes between e-bikes and pedestrians in the park occur frequently, but all the City Council wants to focus on is the dangers of horse carriages, especially after an 18-year-old tourist died after being thrown from a runaway carriage last month, she said.
“The horse (accident), that happens once in 150 years,” she said. “The Council is so up in arms over horses in the park, and they’re not even talking about (e-bikes).”
Julian Kates-Harbeck, 34, a quantitative researcher, was hopping on an electric Citi Bike at 38th St. and First Ave. to commute to work on Thursday. Told of the park incident, he said if the e-biker did hit Jean in the pedestrian lane and going the wrong way, he should face the same consequences as a car driver.
“You should not have any grace just because you’re on a bike,” he said. “What I don’t want is this sort of NIMBY backlash. Suddenly the whole city gets their super environmentally friendly and efficient form of transport gone because of a few NIMBYs. An overreaction like that would be really a mistake.”
Wiltse wrote in her fundraiser for Jean: “We also hope to raise awareness about the dangers of e-bikes. E-bikes can reach speeds of 20+ mph, require no registration or insurance, and are nearly silent on approach. They cause serious injuries daily and there is a general lack of accountability.”
More importantly, Jean’s family wants to know who should be held accountable — questions they never imagined they’d have to confront.
“We just want to know what happened,” she said.
