Amazon executive was killed after colliding with a van delivering the company's packages, report reveals

AP

• Amazon's first chief financial officer, Joy Covey, was killed after colliding with a van delivering Amazon packages, according to a report by BuzzFeed News and ProPublica.
• "I heard a scream, immediately followed by a crash," the van's driver testified, according to the report.
• The details of Covey's death emerged as Amazon has come under scrutiny over the impacts of its growing delivery network following investigations by Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, and The New York Times, among others.
• In a statement to BuzzFeed News and ProPublic, the company called the new report an "attempt to push a preconceived narrative that is simply untrue. Nothing is more important to us than safety."
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Former Amazon executive Joy Covey was killed after colliding with a van delivering Amazon packages, according to an explosive investigation into the company's logistics network by BuzzFeed News and ProPublica.

Covey was Amazon's first chief financial officer. She was riding her bike in San Francisco's South Bay suburbs in 2013 when a delivery van turned left into her path.

"I heard a scream, immediately followed by a crash," the van's driver testified, according to the report.

Covey, who was 50 years old and had a young son, was killed.

Covey's collision with a delivery van was previously reported, but the BuzzFeed News/ProPublica report revealed for the first time on Monday that the van was carrying Amazon packages.

Getty Images

Joy Covey in 1999.

The driver was a subcontractor for OnTrac, which Amazon was employing at the time to deliver packages, according to the report.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos spoke at Covey's memorial service, and choked up as he shared a memory of her. But inside Amazon's logistics ranks, senior managers "regarded the death as just another traffic accident," the report stated, citing three people familiar with the conversations.

The details of Covey's death emerged as Amazon has come under scrutiny over the impacts of its growing delivery network following investigations by Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, and the New York Times, among others.

Amazon has said safety is a top priority.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. But in a statement to BuzzFeed News and ProPublic, the company called the new report an "attempt to push a preconceived narrative that is simply untrue. Nothing is more important to us than safety."

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