A 17-year-old teenager was arrested yesterday and charged with involuntary manslaughter for the road accident in which three Hispanic minors, including his girlfriend, died last summer in Staten Island (NYC).
The unidentified 17-year-old – the only surviving occupant of his car, although he was seriously injured – was arrested in Staten Island and charged with three counts of manslaughter, six counts of assault and three counts of reckless endangerment, approximately more than nine counts. months after the devastating crash that occurred around 8:50 pm on July 10.
The now-detainee was driving a red Ford Mustang that night on Hylan Blvd., in the Tottenville neighborhood, when a GMC Yukon tried to swerve onto Richard Ave. in Charleston. The two cars collided and the Mustang struck a nearby tree, splitting in two.
The passengers in the back seat – Ashley Rodríguez and Jessie Gil, both fifteen years old – were thrown onto the pavement, where they died. Jessie’s sister, 16-year-old Fernanda Gil, who was riding next to the driver, was also killed in the crash.
Family members previously said the driver of the Mustang, who was 16 at the time, was Ashley’s boyfriend and was driving her home at the time. The young woman herself was preparing her “Sweet 16” party for the following week.
The five occupants of the GMC Yukon were taken to Staten Island University Hospital North with minor injuries: two women, ages 44 and 18, a 23-year-old man, an 11-year-old girl, and driver Maher Asi-Mahmoud (47), who was driving with a suspended license. He did not face charges at first.
The driver of the Mustang had a class D learner’s permit and should have had a licensed passenger in the front seat with him, as well as a limited number of minors in the car, law enforcement sources previously said.
The driver’s cousin, Oscar Lebano, previously told Daily News that that car belonged to the mother of the adolescent now accused.
The Gil brothers were the only children of their parents. Investigators determined that not all occupants were wearing seatbelts and that played a role in the fatal outcome.
The New York authorities recall that there is zero tolerance for drivers who speed and/or drive under the influence of alcohol.
In addition to gun violence, traffic accidents are another major challenge for new mayor Eric Adams, following a dismal legacy from his predecessor, Bill De Blasio. This despite “Vision Zero”, a road safety plan created in 2014 to make the city safer for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists with a goal of zero deaths by 2024.
But 2022 was a grim year on New York asphalt in all five boroughs. From January 1 to July 31, about 150 people were killed in traffic accidents, according to the DOT. In particular, there was a 129% increase in hit and run incidents.
New York City had already experienced a 35% increase in traffic accidents in April 2022, the NYPD alerted. At the end of that month there was a tragic streak with an average of one person killed by being run over every day.
In 2023, in addition to cyclists, several pedestrians have been killed in NYC, including three on the same night earlier this month, one of them a 62-year-old Hispanic in East Harlem. Days later, an unlicensed driver fatally struck a teenage bicyclist in Queens and fled.