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Luxury car fatally hits bicyclist and neuroscientist, then flees

A 42-year-old bicyclist and renowned neuroscientist was fatally run over in East Harlem by a driver who sped off, only to bump off another car before jumping out the car and running, authorities said on Thursday.

The chain of events started when a 2002 Mercedes sedan, which appeared to be trying to flee court officers, bounced off several construction barriers and rear-ended the cyclist, Sergei Musatov, on East 129th Street, near Park Avenue. Musatov was hurtled onto the windshield and then fell back to the ground at about 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Musatov was an assistant professor of neuroscience in Neurological Surgery at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, according to his online biography page.

After hitting Musatov, the luxury car then kept going, turning left onto Madison Avenue and driving the wrong way down the one-way street. The driver plowed into a 2011 Volkswagen sedan that was stopped at a red light.

The driver of the Mercedes, and his two passengers, then jumped out of the car and ran off on foot. The driver ran west on 128th Street, and then passengers fled north on Madison Avenue, police said.

The driver appeared to be trying to get away from court officers who had been in a car near the Third Avenue Bridge with their lights flashing, said a law enforcement official with knowledge of the incident.

Neither the driver or passenger in the Volkswagen were injured.