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Borkot Ullah

Age : 53

Gender : Male

Race : Asian

Date : 07/08/2021

Location : East Houston Street and Clinton Street

City : Brooklyn

County : New York City

State : New York

Agency : City of New York Police Department (NYPD)

Officer(s) :Not disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/08/2021, 24-year-old Borkot Ullah was killed while making food deliveries on an e-bike when a black Subaru Outback being pursued by New York City Police Department officers ran a red light and struck him at East Houston and Clinton streets on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Ullah had no connection to the driver, the attempted traffic stop or the police pursuit.
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The encounter began at approximately 10:00 p.m. when NYPD officers attempted to stop the Subaru as it traveled east on East Houston Street. Prosecutors later established that police initiated the stop because the driver was speeding and committing other traffic violations. The driver continued driving away at high speed, and NYPD officers pursued through traffic on East Houston Street.
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Surveillance video subsequently obtained from businesses along the route documented the pursuit. The Subaru weaved around traffic as it approached the red light at Clinton Street. Ullah was traveling north across East Houston Street on his e-bike with the traffic signal in his favor.
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The Subaru drove through the red light and struck Ullah with tremendous force, throwing him several feet through the air. Video showed an unmarked NYPD vehicle immediately behind the Subaru with its emergency lights activated. The police vehicle reached the intersection less than a second after the Subaru struck Ullah, providing direct visual evidence that the police pursuit was underway immediately before the fatal collision.
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The pursuing officers stopped at the crash scene while the Subaru continued east on Houston Street and escaped toward the FDR Drive. Ullah suffered severe traumatic injuries and was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he died.
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Initial NYPD public statements described the incident as a hit-and-run and did not disclose that officers had been pursuing the Subaru immediately before it struck Ullah. After surveillance footage emerged, an NYPD spokesperson said the circumstances preceding the collision were under review. Additional video subsequently obtained by Streetsblog provided a wider view of the Subaru and pursuing police vehicle immediately before and after the collision.
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The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation opened a review because of the NYPD’s involvement in the events preceding Ullah’s death. The Attorney General later closed its review after determining that the evidence did not establish that a police officer legally caused Ullah’s death.
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The NYPD subsequently included Ullah’s death in its official 2021 Use of Force Report. The department categorized the 07/08/2021 incident as “Fleeing Subject – 7th Precinct,” identified the deceased as a 24-year-old Asian man, and stated that officers attempted a vehicle stop for a traffic infraction before the vehicle fled.
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The driver was eventually identified and arrested months later. A Manhattan grand jury indictment confirmed the pursuit chronology that had initially been absent from the NYPD’s public account: officers attempted to stop the Subaru for speeding and other traffic violations, the driver fled at high speed and weaved through traffic, and the Subaru ran the red light at East Houston and Clinton streets and killed Ullah.
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The driver was indicted on charges including second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death without reporting, reckless endangerment, aggravated unlicensed operation and reckless driving. The criminal case ultimately resulted in a New York County Supreme Court judgment on 05/12/2023. An appeal from that judgment remained active in 2026, when the Appellate Division extended the time to perfect the appeal to its September 2026 term.
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Borkot was a Bangladeshi immigrant who worked as an app-based food delivery worker and sent money home to his family in Bangladesh. He was also a member of Desis Rising Up and Moving, a New York organization representing working-class South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrants. He had not originally planned to work that evening but began making deliveries at approximately 8:00 p.m.
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His death prompted delivery workers, immigrant-rights advocates and members of the Bangladeshi community to demand an investigation of both the hit-and-run driver and the NYPD pursuit. Delivery workers later gathered for a memorial vigil, where community members specifically demanded disclosure of why police pursued the vehicle and accountability for the decisions that preceded Ullah’s death.
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Ullah’s family and community organized assistance to return his body to Bangladesh for burial and support his family following his death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The NYPD officers who attempted the traffic stop and pursued the Subaru immediately before it struck Borkot Ullah have not been publicly identified.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/09/hit-and-run-driver-kills-cyclist-on-east-houston
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/12/exclusive-new-video-from-crash-shows-police-chase-led-to-death-of-delivery-cyclist-borkot-ullah/
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/12/cops-wont-comment-on-police-chase-that-may-have-led-to-death-of-delivery-cyclist
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/30/delivery-and-immigrant-communities-protest-death-of-working-cyclist-during-police-chase
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/12/16/driver-charged-for-killing-delivery-worker-borkot-ullah-as-he-fled-cops/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/lower-east-side-e-bike-hit-and-run/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/delivery-worker-borkot-ullah-killed-in-manhattan-hit-and-run-bangladesh/
https://abc7ny.com/east-village-hit-and-run-e-bike-borkot-ullah-subaru-outback/10873859/
https://www.amny.com/news/two-people-dead-in-separate-hit-and-runs-in-manhattan-and-queens-nypd/
https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2024/police-pursuits/
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/use-of-force/use-of-force-2021.pdf
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/reports/osi-2022-annual-report.pdf
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