Grand Central Parkway crash leaves two dead, driver charged, NYPD says
Two Brooklyn residents railing in a BMW were killed Sunday in a four-vehicle crash on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, caused by a drunken driver who had attended a wedding the night before, officials said.
Eight others, including the driver of the BMW, were injured in the 6:30 a.m. crash and were transported to various hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Among the injured were residents of Bellerose, Fresh Hyde Park and Brooklyn, police said.
The victims who were killed in the crash — Layon Campbell, 34, and Akeem Grant, sixteen — lived in East Flatbush, cops said.
Campbell was sitting in the front passenger seat and was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. Grant, sitting in the backseat, was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. There were two other passengers of the BMW, who were both injured, police said.
The driver of the two thousand fourteen BMW, Andrew Shakespeare, 33, of Roselle, Fresh Jersey, was traveling at a “high-rate of speed” on the westbound side of the roadway near 188th Street when he attempted to switch lanes and sideswiped a two thousand two Nissan Sentra and hit a two thousand sixteen Nissan Rogue, the NYPD said.
The BMW and the Rogue went through the road’s guardrail into the eastbound lanes, where a two thousand twelve Mercedes-Benz SUV was struck by the BMW. The Mercedes-Benz then careened into an embankment off the right shoulder, hit two trees and flipped over, police said.
Police estimate that Shakespeare was driving at a minimum of seventy six miles per hour, prosecutors said.
Shakespeare was transported to Long Island Jewish Hospital for a minor head injury. He had “bloodshot watery eyes,” and according to interviews with passengers of his car, he had been drinking at a wedding the night before, prosecutors said.
Shakespeare was later charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, the NYPD said.
One of the other passengers of the BMW, another 16-year-old boy, suffered a fractured pelvis and a fractured arm, prosecutors said. The fourth passenger, a 21-year-old man, suffered a laceration to his right arm, police said.
The driver of the Mercedes-Benz, a 38-year-old woman from Brooklyn, complained of right shoulder agony. The driver of the Sentra, a 59-year-old woman from Bellerose, suffered minor neck and back agony. The driver of the Rogue, a 52-year-old man from Fresh Hyde Park, complained of neck and back anguish. His front-seat passenger, a 60-year-old man from Brooklyn, suffered numerous fractures in his right gam. The third occupant, a 63-year-old man from Brooklyn, suffered a fractured rib and also complained of neck and back ache, officials said.