Teen passengers killed in Hylan Boulevard crash
A 16-year-old driver in a Ford Mustang and a 47-year-old GMC Yukon driver collided at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue, where city records counted three deaths and six injuries and police identified the dead as three teen passengers.
What We Know
Three teen passengers died after a 16-year-old driver in a Ford Mustang and a 47-year-old driver in a GMC Yukon collided at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue on Staten Island. City crash records list unsafe speed and failure to yield as contributing factors, with three motorists killed and six injured. Police accounts published by news outlets identified the passengers as Fernanda Gil, 16, Jesie Gil, 15, and Ashley Rodriguez, 15, and said the Mustang was split after the impact. Reporting differed on the Mustang driver’s lane movement before impact, but accounts agreed the Yukon driver was turning left and the Mustang driver was traveling east on Hylan Boulevard. The crash also renewed attention to a planned Hylan Boulevard redesign.
Two drivers collided during a left turn on Hylan Boulevard
City records place the crash at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue at 8:47 p.m. on July 10, 2022. The official record lists a Ford sedan traveling east and going straight, and a GMC SUV traveling west and making a left turn.
Police told news outlets that a 16-year-old boy was driving the Ford Mustang and a 47-year-old man was driving the GMC Yukon. The official record lists unsafe speed and failure to yield right-of-way as contributing factors.
Press accounts differed on the lane movement before impact
Gothamist reported that the Mustang driver swerved into the opposing lane as the Yukon driver turned left. The New York Post reported that police said the Mustang driver moved from the left lane to the right lane before the Yukon driver hit the Mustang’s driver side.
Three teenagers in the Mustang died
Police identified the passengers who died as Fernanda Gil, 16, Jesie Gil, 15, and Ashley Rodriguez, 15. Fernanda Gil was in the front passenger seat, while Jesie Gil and Ashley Rodriguez were in the back seat, according to police accounts published by the Post and Gothamist.
The Daily News spelled Jesie Gil’s first name as Jessie and described Fernanda Gil and her younger brother as siblings. The same account reported that Ashley Rodriguez had a Sweet 16 party scheduled for the following week.
City records list six injured motorists. News outlets reported that the Mustang driver was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in serious or critical but stable condition, and that the five people in the GMC Yukon had minor injuries.
Licensing and speed were central issues in the reporting
The official crash record attributes unsafe speed and driver inexperience to the Ford driver, and failure to yield right-of-way to the GMC driver.
Gothamist and the Daily News reported that the Yukon driver had a suspended license. Gothamist reported that police took him into custody at the scene and that he had not been formally charged as of Monday morning.
The crash happened on a corridor with a heavy injury toll
The crash was recorded at Hylan Boulevard and Richard Avenue on Staten Island’s South Shore.
CrashCountNYC’s Crash Finder counted 1,836 crashes, 1,125 injuries, 51 serious injuries and 11 deaths on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island from 2022 through June 1, 2026.
City officials pointed to a Hylan Boulevard redesign
The day after the crash, Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said the city would move forward with a redesign of a 1.2-mile section of Hylan Boulevard between Satterlee Street and Page Avenue. The plan called for removing one car lane in each direction, adding bike lanes in each direction and adding left-turn lanes.
The Daily News reported that the fatal crash site was a block east of the planned redesign and that DOT officials would explore additional changes at the intersection. Staten Island Community Board 3 representatives opposed the redesign, while city officials said narrowing space for cars would improve safety.