c/o Citizen
Two men were killed and several others were hospitalized Friday evening after a driver lost control of his SUV at the intersection of West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, jumped the curb, and struck a group of pedestrians.
The victims have been identified as Jason Negron, 46, of West 93rd Street, and Michael Saint-Hilaire, 35, of East 83rd Street. Both men were pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Morningside.
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According to the NYPD, Elvin Suarez, 61, was traveling northbound on Amsterdam Avenue in a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 around 6 p.m. when he struck a parked Volkswagen Jetta roughly 40 feet south of West 109th Street. The Mercedes continued through the intersection, drove over a concrete pedestrian island on the northwest corner, and struck four pedestrians — men ages 46, 44, 36, and 35 — before slamming into a parked Chevrolet Astro van occupied by a 51-year-old man. The impact sent the Astro van into a chain reaction collision with four more parked vehicles: a Honda CR-V, a Toyota Sienna, a Toyota 4Runner, and a Nissan Altima.All four pedestrians, the van occupant, and the driver were transported to Mount Sinai Morningside. Negron and Saint-Hilaire were pronounced dead at the hospital. The two surviving pedestrians, the van occupant, and Suarez are in stable condition, police said.
Suarez, who lives less than a block from the crash site, was arrested and charged with two counts of manslaughter, three counts of vehicular manslaughter, two counts of vehicular assault, and driving while intoxicated.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene. “He was just swerving, driving really fast, and then he drove up over the median,” one woman told CBS News. Cellphone video from the scene showed bystanders trying to lift the vehicle off a man pinned underneath.
The crash remains under investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad.
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