18-Year-Old Driver Killed In Queens Two-Car Crash
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police late Sunday were investigating an overnight crash in Queens that left one man dead and injured another.
It happened after two vehicles collided at the intersection of Sutter Avenue and 80th Street in Ozone Park. Police say the two cars collided so violently, they flew into two parked cars.
A heartbroken father visited the scene where his son, 18-year-old Xylique Lovelace-Loney of Queens, died late Saturday. He was too distraught to talk on camera just hours after the fatal crash.
As CBS2's Reena Roy reported, exclusive cellphone video showed the moment neighbors rushed in to try to keep Lovelace-Loney alive.
His vehicle was bent in half, and smoking from the impact, at Sutter Avenue near 80th Street just after 10 p.m.
"It was like a big bam blew off and I ran outside – multiple-car accident," said Rondel Boodram. "My wife called 911; several people called 911, and we tried our best to keep him talking keep him breathing until the ambulance came."
Boodram and other Ozone Park neighbors even performed chest compressions on Lovelace-Loney.
"In terms of his condition, he was bleeding blood all over," Lovelace-Loney said. "It was horrible."
Eventually, firefighters had to cut him out. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses describe a horrific scene.
"People were saying 'Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes. The ambulance is on the way'," one woman told CBS2. "I can grasp that the guy was on his last breath."
Lovelace-Loney's heartbroken family visited the scene Sunday morning. They were too distraught to talk on camera as they saw bits and pieces from his car scattered all over the street.
The other driver, a 21-year-old man, had minor injuries but refused medical attention at the scene. One witness said it was the worst accident she's seen in the 40 year's she's lived in the neighborhood.
"It's a terrible story," she said. "Worst accident ever."
Neighbors said crashes happen far too often at the intersection.
"There're been so many accidents here. I don't even let the kids play out in the front," Boodram said. "My wife has petitioned to get a four-way stop sign and nothing, so we're hoping this tragic event helps us get a stop sign or stop light here. It's crazy."
Police say Lovelace-Loney was driving his four-door sedan eastbound on Sutter Avenue while the other driver was heading northbound down 80th Street when they crashed, causing Lovelace-Loney to smash into two empty parked cars.
The investigation continued as police said the NYPD Highway Collision Squad is working overtime to determine if the surviving driver may have sped through a stop sign.
The Department of Transportation said they have not gotten any recent requests for a four-way stop at the intersection, but they will now look into that option following the crash.