A robbery suspect driving a pickup truck fatally rear-ended a female bicyclist late Tuesday as she tried to avoid an NYPD officer, police said.
Police spotted a Dodge Ram truck matching the description of a vehicle wanted for robbery at 34th Street and 37th Street in Astoria just after 11 p.m., authorities said.
However, when the officer tried to stop the driver, the driver sped off and struck a 36-year-old bicyclist at the intersection, police said.
According to police, the impact threw the woman riding the bicycle from the vehicle and caused her to collide with a parked BMW 328i.
The woman, who was not immediately identified pending notification of her family, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Police said the driver of the Dodge Ram took off with two passengers inside.
The abandoned pickup truck was later recovered, unoccupied, but no arrests had been made by Wednesday morning.
It was not immediately clear when or where the robbery occurred, but the officers said they were assigned to the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn.
The investigation is being conducted by the NYPD's Collision Investigation Unit.
