A 31-year-old man died this week after the scooter he was riding was struck by a teenage driver in East Baltimore in a hit-and-run, according to Baltimore Police.

The scooter rider was transported to a hospital, where he died. Police identified the victim as Reggie Monroe on Friday.

Authorities said the 16-year-old driver left the scene at the intersection of North Conkling Street and Pulaski Highway but was soon located by police about a half-mile west in the McElderry Park neighborhood. The teenage boy was arrested and transported to the Department of Juvenile Services, where he was charged with driving without a license and fleeing the scene of an accident. The car was not stolen, according to a police spokesperson.

In security video footage from a nearby business shown to The Baltimore Banner, two scooter riders can be seen close together traveling westbound on Pulaski Highway in the travel lane closest to the curb. As they finish crossing the intersection with North Conkling Street, a car traveling faster than other vehicles strikes one of the riders from behind, sending the scooter into the air. The other rider can be seen jumping off their scooter onto the sidewalk, throwing their hands up and grasping their head as if in disbelief, and then running toward the victim. The car, identified by police as a 2009 Mazda, continues driving west and barely slows down.

Police did not say if the scooter was owned by the rider or owned by one of two companies that rents scooters and e-bikes through the city transportation department’s dockless vehicles program, Spin and Lime. Representatives of the companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Thursday afternoon, trash and debris littered the side of the roadway where the crash occurred and appeared swept up against the curb. A black plastic component for an electric Segway scooter, identified by a numbered code on it, and other similar-looking plastic parts were among the debris, though it cannot be confirmed that they were there because of Tuesday’s crash.

That section of Pulaski Highway has a speed limit of 30 mph, meaning scooter riders can legally use the sidewalk but at a maximum speed of 6 mph. Motorists are required to yield to bikes and scooters when they are in the road and provide 3 feet of room when passing. Scooter riders are required by law to use the roadway, where the speed limit is less than 30 mph.

It is unclear from the video shown to The Banner whether the victim was wearing a helmet or highly visible and reflective clothing, both of which are safety recommendations. The rider who wasn’t hit did not appear to be wearing either.

The city transportation department requires that Lime and Spin outfit their vehicles with lights on the front and back that are “visible from a distance of at least 500 feet under normal atmospheric conditions at night.” But the rear lights on scooters of both companies are small and close to the ground.

Pulaski Highway is not a designated bike route, which scooter riders are encouraged to use, and sits within a large gap in designated bike infrastructure in East Baltimore. The city’s 2015 Bike Master Plan classified it a high-stress roadway and lists nearby east-west roads as much friendlier to bikers.

The closest designated east-west bike route is on East Baltimore Street, a quarter-mile south of where the crash occurred.

Bike lanes have caused a stir in Baltimore and nationwide, with critics arguing they clog traffic and don’t make riders safer. Supporters, including Baltimore’s transportation department, disagree.

Employees at businesses along that section of Pulaski Highway said the four-lane road is prone to speeding and treacherous for pedestrians.

Nicole DeVillasee, who works at a nearby auto shop, said she has witnessed three crashes along that section of road since starting her job two years ago and has seen many cars get pulled over around the intersection with North Conkling. She did not see Tuesday night’s crash.

“It’s definitely not safe,” DeVillasee said of the roadway. Jaywalking and people jumping out into the road happen all the time, she said, partially because crosswalks are far apart from one another.

The area is no more prone to bad crashes than other parts of Baltimore, said Muhammad Iqbal, who has managed a gas station at the intersection for 10 years. But that’s because reckless driving “happens everywhere in the city,” Iqbal said.

Scooters make sense for those who lack other options for getting around but are dangerous to ride at night, Iqbal said.

More than 600 people died on Maryland’s roads last year for the first time in over a decade, part of a nationwide surge in traffic deaths since the start of the pandemic. There were 193 crashes involving bikes and other “pedacycle” vehicles in Baltimore last year, according to state data, including one fatality.

In November, a scooter rider was struck and killed by an MTA bus. This year, a Baltimore Police officer pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter for striking a 58-year-old man in East Baltimore in 2022 after running a red light in response to a call of an assault.

Ridership of scooters and other lightweight vehicles such as e-bikes and skateboards has exploded over the past decade across the country, according to a recent report from the National Association of City Transportation Officials, with 133 million trips taken in 2023. Of those, 1.3 million happened in Baltimore, according to the city transportation department.

Banner Reporter Penelope Blackwell contributed to this story.