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Firefighter on Bicycle Hurt in Crash With Charter Bus

An off-duty New York City firefighter was critically injured yesterday when the driver of a charter bus hired to carry workers stranded by the transit strike slammed into him at a Midtown intersection as he was bicycling to work, police and fire officials said.

The firefighter, Matthew Long, 39, was going north in the right lane of Third Avenue when the bus driver, who was also traveling north on Third Avenue, turned right onto 52nd Street and struck Mr. Long, dragging him under the bus, officials said.

The details that emerged about the accident showed that it was related to the strike, Fire Department officials said. The bus was on its way to pick up workers from Bear Stearns and take them to the company's Midtown offices, and relatives of Mr. Long told officials that the strike was also the reason he was riding his bicycle. Investigators were trying to view film from a security camera that may have captured the accident at 5:48 a.m.

The bus driver, Bryant Barr, 30, of Albany, was given a summons for making an improper right turn from a lane other than the right lane, cutting off Mr. Long, the police said.

Mr. Long was tangled in the frame of his bicycle and suffered several broken bones and internal injuries.

He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and was listed in critical condition, a hospital spokesman said.

"His condition is grave and I ask all New Yorkers to pray for him," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said during a City Hall news conference in which he described the accident as marring the general mood of relief over the end of the transit strike.

Mr. Long has worked for the department for 12 years and was in top physical condition from years of competing in cycling and running races as well as triathlons. He ran in the New York City marathon last month.

Word of the crash rippled through the Fire Department, where two of Mr. Long's younger brothers also work as firefighters. One of them, James, is a spokesman for the department; the other, Edward, works as a firefighter at Engine Company 69, on West 143rd Street in Manhattan.

"He's a really great guy in the fire house," said a firefighter who stood in the door at Ladder 43, in East Harlem, where Mr. Long worked until about nine months ago when he volunteered to be an instructor, training probationary firefighters, at the department's training academy on Randalls Island.

Mr. Long is the son of Michael Long, the head of the state Conservative Party, who went to the hospital to be by his son's side, said Laura Schreiner, an aide to the party leader. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and several Fire Department officials also went to the hospital. Last night his brother James said Mr. Long had helped rescue colleagues at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Long was on his way to the training facility when the crash occurred not far from his Manhattan home, the Fire Department's chief spokesman said. His family told Fire Department officials that he was not in the habit of riding his bicycle to work, though he did so occasionally, when the weather was warmer, the spokesman, Francis X. Gribbon, said. "They believe he was bicycling to work today because of the transit strike," he said.

The bus that hit Mr. Long belonged to the Allen Transportation Corporation, which is affiliated with the Allen A.M.E. Church in Jamaica, Queens, according to the Rev. Edwin C. Reed, the church's chief financial officer.

It was one of several buses chartered by Bear Stearns to take employees to work, said Russell Sherman, a Bear Stearns spokesman. "It's a tragic situation and our thoughts are with him and his family at this time," Mr. Sherman said.

Richard Gallo, a lawyer for the bus company, said he planned to contest the summons because a woman who he said had witnessed the crash countered the official version. "The bus didn't strike the bicyclist," Mr. Gallo said. "The bicyclist struck the side of the bus."

The Rev. Floyd H. Flake, the church's pastor and a former Democratic congressman, said, "Our prayers are with the individual involved in this incident as well as with his entire family." He said in a statement that a church member would be visiting the Long family to offer support. "And I expect to call the family as soon as I have the appropriate information."

Reporting for this article was contributed by Janon Fisher, Corey Kilgannon, Shadi Rahimi, Matthew Sweeney and Michael Wilson.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 5 of the National edition with the headline: Firefighter on Bicycle Hurt In Crash With Charter Bus. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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