A new and popular face on New York City television, news reporter Nina Kapur was the passenger on a personal rideshare scooter being driven by a man in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon, June 18, 2020. Kapur joined the news team at a local CBS affiliate in the Big Apple.
As Monday afternoon following the fatal accident, an investigation into the specific circumstances surrounding the incident remained underway. What is known that while traveling down the street in a neighborhood comprised of residences, bistros, and shops, the driver of the rideshare scooter appeared to swerve. What has not yet been determined is why the driver of the scooter carrying Kapur made the abrupt move. Witnesses to the accident confirmed seeing driver swerve but couldn’t identify any immediate reason for the maneuver.
After swerving, the driver lost control of the moped. Both the driver and the news reporter ended up hitting the roadway with considerable force. The rideshare moped the pair was riding on easily is capable of speeds up to 30 mile per hour. Although the exact speed of the moped has yet to be estimated by accident investigators. With that aid, witnesses did estimate that the moped likely waving at about 30 miles per hour at the time of the fatal accident. If the scooter was being operated at 30 miles per hour, that would be five miles above the speed limit for the street on which the accident occurred.
Another question that remains unresolved is whether Kapur and the moped driver wore helmets at the time of the accident. Revel, the company that owns and rents out the scooters, provides a pair of helmets with each rental.
Emergency medical personnel reached the scene of the accident not long after it occurred. Kapur was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The driver sustained what law enforcement at the scene described as minor injuries. It is unclear whether or not the driver was taken to the hospital.
The moped is owned by a rapidly growing rideshare company known as Revel. Revel started operations about a year ago with 68 electric rideshare vehicles like the scooter involved in the accident that killed Kapur. As of the date of the accident in Brooklyn, Revel was operating more than 1,000 rideshare vehicles like the scooter in question throughout Brooklyn and Queens in New York. In addition to operating scooters in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, the company maintains a rideshare fleet of electric vehicles in Washington, D.C., Miami, Florida, Austin Texas, and San Francisco, California. The company has intentions to both add more rideshare personal vehicles in coming month in all cities in which it currently operates. Revel also plans to continue to add more cities into its scope of operations.
As rideshare vehicles become more widely available on the streets of cities across the United States, accidents and other issues have been on a sharp increase. For example, drivers of personal rideshare vehicles like mopeds and scooters can be found violating a range of different ordinances and safety mandates, including driving operating on sidewalks, misusing bike lines, and even operating in excess of posted speed limits (as may have been the case in regard to the accident involving Kapur).
Beyond accidents caused by moped, scooter and other types of personal rideshare vehicles, a growing number of injuries are occurring because of the negligence of rideshare companies, personal rideshare vehicle manufacturers, and others. For example, in the case of the moped accident in Brooklyn that took the life of Kapur, possible contributing factors to the death of the news reporter include:
- Negligence of the Moped Driver
- Moped Manufacturing Defect
- Moped Design Defect
- Negligence of a Third Party (For Example, Something or Someone That Caused the Driver of the Moped to Make an Unplanned Swerve).
If you’ve been injured in an accident involving a personal rideshare vehicle like moped or scooter, an attorney from The Doan Law Firm is available to your convenience to discuss your case. You can call us any time at (800) 340-0000. A nationwide law firm, we can arrange a no-cost initial consultation at any one of our offices or online. The Doan Law Firm never charges an attorney fee unless we win for you.