NEW YORK — A teenage driver with no driver’s license or learner’s permit was distracted or fell asleep behind the wheel of an SUV that crashed and caught fire on New York’s Hutchinson River Parkway, killing him and four underage relatives, authorities said Monday.
There was no supervising adult in, near or trailing the Connecticut-bound Nissan Rogue that crashed into a boulder, hit a tree and burst into flames on the Westchester County parkway just after midnight Sunday, authorities said.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said the driver appeared to have trouble negotiating a curve.
“We do not believe speed was a factor in this accident,” Latimer told reporters. “It is a road that curves quite a bit. It curves to the left then goes downhill. The driver did not turn with the roadway, and continued in a straight line.”
Killed in the single-car crash were driver Malik Smith, 16, and passengers Anthony Billips, 17, Zahnyiah Cross, 12, Shawnell Cross 11, and Andrew Billips, 8.
Only a 9-year-old boy, riding in the rear cargo area of the SUV, survived, officials said. He escaped out the back of the vehicle and was taken to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Latimer knows the road well.
“It’s a road I’m personally familiar with,” Latimer said. “As a matter of fact I drove over that same road two hours before the accident.”
The Westchester County Police Accident Investigation Team and detectives from the county’s General Investigations Unit are investigating the crash.
“This was a horrific accident,” Latimer said. “It was a horrific accident site.”
Police said the group had been at a mall or family gathering and were on their way to their homes in Connecticut.
Latimer said the vehicle was a rental.
Officials said all five kids were from Connecticut and had just moved to a community there. School officials in Derby, Connecticut, said the boys and girls had not yet enrolled in their new schools.
“It’s the unimaginable,” Matt Conway, superintendent of schools in Derby, said. “Having to now make arrangements for five of your children to be buried is a very difficult thing for anyone — one child, never mind five that you’re going to have to now make arrangements for.”
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