A teen driver was charged after three passengers died in a Staten Island crash.
The following week
A 16-year-old driver in a Ford Mustang collided with a turning GMC Yukon at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue at 8:47 p.m. on July 10, 2022; three teen passengers died and six people were injured, according to the official record and police accounts.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
The official record assigns unsafe speed and driver inexperience to the Ford driver and failure to yield to the GMC driver; news reports differ on the vehicles' directions and the breakup sequence. Three teenage passengers died and six people were injured, and news reports later said both drivers were charged.
A left turn brought the drivers together.
Police accounts described a 16-year-old driving a Ford Mustang and a 47-year-old driving a GMC Yukon, whose driver was turning left onto Richard Avenue when the vehicles collided at Hylan Boulevard. The official record gives the time as 8:47 p.m. on July 10, 2022, and lists three deaths and six injuries.
The three passengers were teenagers.
Reports identified the passengers as Fernanda Gil, 16; Jesie Gil, 15; and Ashley Rodriguez. Most reports gave Rodriguez's age as 15, while FOX 5 reported her age as 16.
Reports differ about where Fernanda died: Gothamist, the New York Post and NY1 said she died at a hospital, while ABC7 said all three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Family remembered the siblings and a birthday that was near.
The Daily News and the New York Post reported that Fernanda and Jesie were siblings. Their uncle, Juan Sanchez, told the Post, “It’s like a nightmare.” The Post also reported that Rodriguez was a week away from her Sweet 16 celebration, according to a fundraiser written by her brother. A later Post report said she was the sister of an NYPD officer.
The official record and news reports use different vehicle labels.
The official record classifies the Ford as a sedan and the GMC as a station wagon or sport utility vehicle. News reports identify the vehicles as a Ford Mustang and a GMC Yukon.
Accounts differ on directions and the sequence.
The official record, the New York Post and NY1 place the Ford eastbound and the GMC westbound; ABC7 and FOX 5 report the reverse. Gothamist said the Mustang driver swerved into the opposing lane, while the Post and NY1 described a move from the left lane to the right.
The Post reported that a tree impact split the Mustang before its front half continued. NY1 placed the split after the car mounted the sidewalk and uprooted a small tree, followed by a telephone-pole impact.
Both drivers were later charged.
ABC7 reported that GMC driver Maher Asi-Mahmoud, 47, of Marlboro, New Jersey, was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation and operation of a motor vehicle by an unlicensed driver.
The New York Post reported that police arrested the Mustang driver, then 17, on April 27, 2023. He faced three counts each of manslaughter, recklessly causing serious injury with a weapon, reckless endangerment and recklessly causing physical injury. These were charges, not findings of guilt.
A planned redesign was close to the crash site.
The official record places the crash at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue on Staten Island; press reports locate the intersection in Tottenville. The Daily News reported that the site was a block east of a planned 1.2-mile redesign of Hylan Boulevard between Satterlee Street and Page Avenue.
At the time, the plan called for removing a travel lane in each direction and adding bike lanes and left-turn lanes. The Department of Transportation said it would explore additional changes at the crash intersection, while Community Board 3 representatives opposed the redesign.