Mother searching for answers months after daughter was killed riding bicycle to work in Brooklyn

By ALECIA REID

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — Months after a deadly crash involving a truck and a woman riding a bicycle in Brooklyn, the victim’s mother is searching for answers.

It’s been nearly three months since Kala Santiago was hit by a truck while riding her bicycle to work.

“There’s not one day, not one minute, not one second I don’t think about her,” Santiago’s mom, Leeanna Alois, said.

On Oct. 12, the 25-year-old was riding along Parkside Avenue and Parade Place, right outside Prospect Park when the crash occurred.

“I want answers, and not getting answers is very frustrating,” Alois said.

NYPD officials say Santiago was trying to pass a truck when she hit a parked vehicle. The 25-year-old then went into the roadway, where the wheels of the truck ran over her.

But her mom told CBS2 she’s hearing a different version from witnesses.

“The guy said, ‘Kayla did not break my mirror, the mirror was already broken,'” Alois said.

She believes the semi-truck hit her daughter.

“Basically, he was going straight and basically he missed her in the front and caught her and squished her in between two cars, and instantly she fell underneath the truck and she was instantly killed,” she said.

Parkside Avenue is a very narrow two-way street. The young mother was not using the bike lane, but it’s also not a designated truck route.

“He wasn’t making a truck delivery. He wasn’t doing none of that. He did not belong there at all, and all they gave him was fines,” Alois said.

According to the Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero plan, cyclist deaths are on the decline while use of bicycles continues to increase. In 2022, numbers were down for the third straight year with a total of 17 fatalities, compared to 28 in 2019, which was a 20-year high.

“That’s the only thing what honestly keeps me going as a mom, knowing she left me my two grandsons,” Alois said.

Santiago’s older son, Leon, will be 2 in March. His brother, Nico, is 6 months old.

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