Police said the 19-year-old was crossing in Woodside when a truck turning right struck her late Sunday night.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — A 19-year-old woman was struck and killed by a private garbage truck while crossing a street in Queens late Sunday, police said, after the vehicle turned into a Woodside crosswalk near Roosevelt Avenue just before midnight.
Nishath Jannath, who police said lived in Woodside, was pronounced dead at the scene after the crash at 62nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue at about 11:55 p.m. The driver, a 38-year-old woman, stayed at the intersection and was treated for minor injuries. No charges had been announced by Monday, and the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad was handling the case. The truck was operated by Royal Waste, a private sanitation company.
Police said Jannath was in the crosswalk when the truck turned right from Roosevelt Avenue onto 62nd Street and hit her. The crash happened in a busy section of western Queens near the elevated 7 train line, where foot traffic remains heavy late into the night because of restaurants, stores and train service. Officers and emergency medical workers responded after a 911 call and found Jannath with severe trauma. She was declared dead at the scene. Investigators did not say Monday whether the signal favored the pedestrian or the truck at the moment of impact, and they did not release details about the truck’s speed. Police Chief of Transportation Kim Royster was not among the officials who spoke publicly Monday, but the department said in a statement that the collision squad was reviewing evidence from the scene as part of its standard fatal-crash inquiry.
Authorities identified the victim as Nishath Jannath and said she lived on 55th Street, about a 10-minute walk from the intersection where she was killed. Police said the truck driver remained on site and cooperated with the initial investigation. Officers did not report any immediate arrest, summons or criminal charge. By midday Monday, investigators had released only a basic account of the crash: a right turn by a garbage truck, a pedestrian in the crosswalk and a fatal impact. It was not clear whether detectives had obtained surveillance video from nearby businesses or transit cameras, whether any independent witnesses gave formal statements, or whether visibility, truck design or street geometry played a role. Royal Waste did not issue a public statement early Monday. The company is listed by city regulators as an approved trade-waste hauler operating in New York’s private commercial sanitation industry.
The crash added to a recent run of deadly vehicle strikes in the city that have kept attention on pedestrian safety and turning conflicts at intersections. New York officials have spent years promoting Vision Zero street-safety changes aimed at reducing deaths, and city transportation officials said last year that traffic deaths had fallen to their lowest recorded level in the first half of 2025. Even so, fatal collisions involving pedestrians continue to draw scrutiny because many happen in crosswalks or during turning movements, when walkers and drivers enter the same space at the same time. Private sanitation trucks also carry special public-safety concerns because they often operate overnight, travel on dense commercial corridors and can have large blind zones. In Woodside, Roosevelt Avenue is one of the borough’s busiest mixed-use corridors, with constant movement by buses, trains, delivery vehicles, ride-share traffic and pedestrians.
The legal process remained at an early stage Monday. The NYPD Collision Investigation Squad typically examines physical evidence, roadway markings, signal timing, witness accounts, video and vehicle condition before prosecutors decide whether charges are warranted. Police did not say whether the truck would undergo a mechanical inspection or whether the driver had been tested for alcohol or drugs, both steps that may occur in a fatal-crash investigation. The Office of Chief Medical Examiner will determine the formal cause of death. Any civil or regulatory review involving the hauler would unfold separately from the police inquiry. For now, the public record consists mainly of the police account, the victim’s identity, the truck operator’s name and the location and time of the collision. Additional findings could come in updated police briefings or court filings if investigators decide enforcement action is appropriate.
On Monday, the intersection looked like many others along Roosevelt Avenue, noisy and crowded beneath elevated tracks, with pedestrians moving past storefronts and vehicles edging through tight turns. The difference was the fresh grief attached to the corner. A short walk away, Jannath’s home address underscored how close the crash happened to where she lived. Residents in the neighborhood are used to truck traffic, especially overnight and early in the morning, when commercial collection and deliveries are common. That familiarity can make a fatal strike feel even sharper. The known facts remained spare, but the emotional outline was clear: a young woman crossing near home, a truck turning through the intersection and a family now waiting for details that had not yet been made public. Police said the investigation was continuing and asked no public help Monday.
The case remained open Monday afternoon, with no arrest announced and key details still under review as detectives worked to determine exactly how the truck entered the crosswalk and what investigators may disclose next.
Author note: Last updated March 30, 2026.