NEW YORK — Police are investigating after 5 people died in a crash on the Cross Island Parkway in Queens early Monday morning.
A neighbor’s surveillance digicam picked up the loud crashing noise simply mins ahead of police replied to a dangerous collision ahead of 6 a.m. that overturned a Mazda SUV.
“We heard the noise, and we knew it was a bad one. It was earth-shattering. You could hear the sounds of metal just crunching,” neighbor Frank Steele stated.
“It’s horrible to say, but it’s common. It’s all the time and you pray when you hear it. You’re like, ‘Dear Lord, please don’t let anybody be dead,'” neighbor Edith Caruso stated.
All 5 occupants in the Mazda have been pronounced useless on the scene. Police say no less than 3 of the grownup passengers have been discovered outdoor of the auto.
It used to be in the northbound lane of the Cross Island Parkway on the Whitestone Expressway close to Exit 36 South when officers say the male driving force of a white Honda Pilot collided with them. The driving force of the Honda used to be taken to a neighborhood medical institution in solid situation.
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“I never use that, that exit, at all. I just try to avoid it at all times. It’s just too dangerous for me,” neighbor Loredana Liggio stated.
Liggio and her daughter Marissa have been some of the stable drift of passersby having a look from the overpass on the crash website at a well known bend in the freeway with its personal nickname.
“This is dead man’s curve,” stated Rod Snedecor. “It’s a tight curve, it’s always been. A lot of accidents.”
“I believe at some point somebody actually went over there and painted that on there to make everybody aware … They spraypainted ‘dead man’s curve,'” Marissa Liggio stated.
“Terrible tragedy and it’s always this area,” stated Mike DiMarco. “Cars go around this bend so quickly and I don’t think that people realize how sharp of a turn it really is.”
When Florance Ruggiero noticed the crash from her doorstep, her center sunk.
“Kind of you knew by looking at the cars. No one had to tell you,” she stated. “I’ve seen many accidents here. I’ve lived here all my life.”
“Everybody knows it as a dead man’s curve, and it’s a sharp curve,” Whitestone resident Gene Crowley stated.
This fatal crash is not the primary one Crowley has witnessed dwelling in the world.
“Last summer, a motorcyclist got killed. He hit the wall,” he stated.
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Even with a 25 mph pace prohibit signal, neighbors say the curve creeps up on drivers.
“If you don’t know the curve is there, you’re gonna speed,” Crowley stated.
Neighbors say extra caution indicators are had to save you long term injuries.
“We wanted lights, flashing lights. They need to put a sign — ‘dangerous curve.’ Not this close, they need to do it further back,” Ruggiero stated.
Northbound lanes on the curve have been closed for seven hours Monday morning as police investigated, transferring slow-moving site visitors to Exit 36 North.
“First thing in new year and this what happens. It’s awful,” Marissa Liggio stated.
“Long story short, they really need to do something here,” Snedecor stated.
At this time, police nonetheless have not known the 5 people who died and are nonetheless investigating what pace the vehicles have been riding. It’s nonetheless unclear who is at fault.