By Marlyn Montilla
Aug 28, 2023, 16:38 PM EDT
A Hispanic teenager was killed trying to cross a six-lane highway on his way home from a party in Queens, according to a family friend.
Identified as 18-year-old Carlos Criollo, he was returning home from a birthday party when he tried to cross the Long Island Expressway near 98th Street in Corona around 3:20 a.m. Saturday, where foot traffic it is strictly prohibited, authorities reported.
Criollo was struck by the driver of a 2019 Lexus RX 350 SUV heading east in the right lane, officials said.
Paramedics rushed the young man to New York’s Queens-Presbyterian Hospital, but he could not be saved, the Daily News reported.
The Hispanic had been hanging out with his family at Flushing Meadows-Corina Park until 9:00 p.m. Friday when he went out to the birthday party with a friend, another Criollo family friend confirmed.
“He went to his friend’s house. It was his friend’s birthday,” said Louis Mizhquiri, 46.
The teen, who Mizhquiri repeatedly said did not drink at the party, was at his friend’s birthday party until 2 a.m., when he walked home to Rego Park.
The area of the freeway where Criollo was struck is within walking distance of two crosswalks, including an underpass at Junction Boulevard and a pedestrian bridge at 99th Street.
Neither Mizhquiri nor Criollo’s relatives know why the young man would try to cross the section of the Long Island Expressway on foot.
“The police have not said anything,” said the victim’s mother, Gina Criollo. “We don’t know what happened.”
The person behind the wheel remained on the scene and is not immediately facing charges.
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