Local
Cambridge driver sentenced to jail in fatal Memorial Drive bike crash
Junming Zhu was sentenced to a year in jail and lost his license for 15 years after pleading guilty in the 2024 death of cyclist John Corcoran. The crash was one of three fatal bicycle collisions in Cambridge that year.
A judge sentenced Junming Zhu to a year in jail Thursday for the 2024 death of cyclist John Corcoran on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Zhu, 28, pleaded guilty in the case and was taken into custody immediately. His driver’s license was revoked for 15 years; the remainder of his sentence was suspended.
Prosecutors said Zhu lost control of his Mercedes in September 2024, drove over a curb and struck Corcoran, 62, as he rode an electric bicycle on a sidewalk. Corcoran lived in Newton. Zhu was charged in 2025.
Corcoran’s family had asked the court to impose the maximum sentence of two and a half years. His widow, Barbara Bower, said the loss has been devastating, and that the wait for the case to reach court prolonged her grief. She described learning to live without her husband as “entirely terrible.”
The crash came amid a deadly year for cyclists in Cambridge. Corcoran was one of three cyclists killed in collisions there in 2024. Kim Staley, 55, was killed June 7 near Harvard Square, and Minh-Thi Nguyen, 24, was killed June 21 on Hampshire Street.
The deaths prompted calls from cycling safety advocates for safer streets. Advocate Sue Downing said cyclists and pedestrians should not be killed for the convenience of drivers trying to save seconds.