Scooter Going 50 MPH Kills Rider Francis Delball, 39, and Cyclist Dmytro Stechenko, 35, on Queensboro Bridge
A Thursday morning commute on the Queensboro Bridge ended in tragedy when Francis Delball, 39, riding an illegal electric scooter capable of hitting 50 miles per hour, collided head-on with cyclist Dmytro Stechenko, 35, killing both men and sending shockwaves through New York City’s cycling community.
The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. Delball was riding his Blade GT II scooter uphill from Queens when he struck Stechenko, who was traveling downhill into Queens on a carbon-fiber Factor road bike.
Emergency responders transported both men to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. The NYPD has not officially confirmed the victims’ names, though a police source identified the two men.
Witness Describes Horrific Scene as Nearly 100 People Watched
Kurt Freyer, a regular Queensboro Bridge commuter who bikes across four days a week, arrived just moments after the collision. What he witnessed left him shaken.
“I can’t believe they both died,” Freyer said. “They were both wearing helmets. The scooter rider had a full-face moto-style helmet on. His eyes were open but he didn’t seem conscious. The cyclist was being tended to by a doctor who was a passerby, and there was a nurse there checking the scooter guy’s vitals.”
Nearly 100 people gathered at the scene as first responders worked on both men. Photos posted to Reddit showed Stechenko’s road bike completely snapped in half from the force of the impact.
Freyer said he had seen this coming for years, describing near-miss encounters with fast-moving stand-up scooters on the bridge as a near-daily occurrence.
“I have said specifically someone is going to get really badly hurt. The stand-up high-powered scooters are very quiet and can go very fast. For the last three years they have been a daily occurrence where I get passed by them,” he said.
The Scooter Was Legal to Buy but Illegal to Ride in New York City
The scooter Delball was riding, the Blade GT II made by Teverun, is sold online for around $1,700 and advertised as capable of going from zero to 53 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds.
Despite being illegal to operate on New York City streets and bike lanes, it can be ordered online and delivered to any city address with no restrictions whatsoever.
New York City law caps e-bikes and stand-up scooters at 15 miles per hour on bike lanes. Legal mopeds and motorcycles require DMV registration and are banned from bike lanes entirely.
Even so, enforcement has been widely criticized as insufficient for years, with advocates repeatedly warning city officials about the growing danger of high-speed electric vehicles sharing narrow bridge paths with cyclists and pedestrians.
City Officials and Advocates Call for Immediate Action
City Hall spokesman Jeremy Edwards said the Mamdani administration remains committed to removing these vehicles from city streets.
“This terrible tragedy is a grim reminder that illegal, high-speed micro-mobility devices are dangerous and have no place on our roadways or bike paths,” he said.
Transportation Alternatives executive director Ben Furnas called on the City Council to pass the Ride Safe, Ride Right bill immediately, which would restrict the sale of the most dangerous micromobility devices in the city.
“Speed kills,” Furnas said. “Anything faster than 20 mph is especially deadly.”
Thursday’s crash marks the second fatal incident involving an illegal high-speed electric vehicle on a city path within the past year. The investigation remains open.
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