A devoted Upper West Side runner was struck from behind by an e-bike rider allegedly traveling the wrong way in Central Park, leaving her in a medically induced coma, her family and a witness said.
The 43-year-old jogger, described by loved ones as “vibrant” and identified by her first name, Jean, underwent emergency cranial surgery after the terrifying July 7 collision, including the removal of part of her skull, her niece Brandi Wiltse told The Post on Thursday.
“Now, over a week from the incident, she is still not awake, still in a medically induced coma,” Wiltse said.
The electric bike rider involved has not faced any consequences, according to police and an angered Wiltse, who said New York City can “absolutely” do more to hold reckless cyclists accountable.
“After this, the fact that there is no accountability, there’s no registration requirement, there’s no insurance … There should be laws in place,” she said.
Jean was jogging along West Drive near West 64th Street at about 4:38 p.m. when she was hit by the e-bike rider, whom police described only as a 26-year-old man.
Witness Hoon Chan Sim said the cyclist was allegedly moving quickly in the wrong direction in the running lane, rather than using the designated bike lane, when he slammed into Jean from behind and sent her crashing to the ground, where she struck her head.
“He was going the wrong way on the running track,” Sim said. “I heard a really loud screeching noise. My guess is that he was going pretty fast.”
The cyclist — who appeared to be a “courier,” based on his fast-looking bike — allegedly tried to leave but other pedestrians surrounded him to force him to stay and wait for first responders, Sim said.
“The saddest thing was that he didn’t look at the victim. He was trying to get away from it but people gathered around him so he couldn’t,” Sim said.
“Jesus, I mean, the woman was bleeding out of ears.”
EMTs rushed Jean to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center with head injuries in “stable condition,” police said.
“She was moaning, and people were tending to her, like, saying, ‘Are you okay?’ and then she was just moaning all the time on the sidewalk. She was pretty much unconscious, non-responsive,” Sim said.
Wiltse told the West Side Rag, which first reported on Jean’s condition Wednesday, that her aunt was checked into the hospital as a “Jane Doe” because she was unconscious.
She had three blood transfusions and also suffered a broken elbow that required surgery and lacerations so deep she needed skin grafts, Wiltse told The Post.
Doctors were still monitoring her condition and her niece said the family expects she will face a long road to recovery. Wiltse said her parents would be traveling from Georgia to be with Jean, who lost her job in April, and had packed for “an indefinite amount of time.”
“We’re just all trying to do whatever we can because we do not want her to be alone when she wakes up,” she said.
The NYPD, in a statement, said the “26-year-old male operator of the two-wheeled vehicle remained on scene” — but wouldn’t say whether he had been ticketed or even confirm whether there was an ongoing investigation Thursday.
But Wiltse said police told her they were no longer investigating her aunt’s accident. She said cops should look into the witness claims that the e-bike rider was going the wrong-way.
“If he was traveling the way the laws intended, that’s one thing. That’s something the police should look into.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani in March issued an executive order ending criminal enforcement of certain low-level e-bike violations and limiting police to civil tickets.
Driving the wrong way would have been a criminal offense for bikers prior to Mamdani’s order — which is now facing a lawsuit from a group of victims who argue the policy has effectively “legalized” dangerous e-bike riding and made New Yorkers less safe.
It comes during a spike in collisions involving e-bikes in New York City.
Citywide, there were 514 e-bike collisions so far this year, nine of which were fatal, public records show.
For the same time period in 2025, there were 384 collisions involving e-bikes, six of which were fatal.
Wiltse described “Aunt Jean” as a “vibrant” family member and a careful runner whose life has been suddenly upended by the crash.
“On an afternoon run, her life changed in an instant when a man riding an e-bike collided with her. The impact left her with a traumatic brain injury,” Wiltse wrote on an online fundraising page seeking donations to help her aunt pay her rent and for travel costs for relatives.
She said she wants her aunt’s case to serve as a warning about the dangers of fast-moving e-bikes.
“E-bikes can reach speeds of 20+ mph, require no registration or insurance, and are nearly silent on approach. They cause serious injuries daily and there is a general lack of accountability,” Wiltse wrote on the GoFundMe.
