Allegedly drunk driver charged after LIE tow operator death
A crash on the westbound Long Island Expressway in Elmhurst killed 47-year-old tow operator Carlos Santiago, and police told the Daily News that allegedly drunk driver Denzel Porter was arrested on vehicular manslaughter charges.
What We Know
Carlos Santiago, a 47-year-old tow truck operator, was working in the roadway on the westbound Long Island Expressway in Elmhurst at about 3:28 a.m. on October 8, 2022, when a crash killed him and injured five other people. The Daily News, citing police, reported that Santiago had stopped near Exit 19 to help a 27-year-old man with a disabled Nissan sedan. Police said Denzel Porter, the allegedly drunk driver of a Dodge Durango, caused the crash and was arrested on vehicular manslaughter charges. The official crash record cites alcohol involvement and lists two westbound SUVs, a parked sedan and a parked diesel tractor truck; the Daily News described a three-car crash involving two moving vehicles and the stalled car.
Santiago was working beside a disabled car
The Daily News reported, citing police, that Carlos Santiago worked for Knights Towing and had responded to help a 27-year-old man with a disabled Nissan sedan on the Manhattan-bound Long Island Expressway near Exit 19 in Elmhurst at about 3:30 a.m.
The official crash record says the fatal victim was a 47-year-old male pedestrian who was working in the roadway away from an intersection. The record lists one person killed and five people injured, including four motorists.
On the westbound Long Island Expressway in Elmhurst
The official record places the crash on the Long Island Expressway at latitude 40.73113 and longitude -73.87361. The Daily News described the location as the Manhattan-bound side of the expressway near Exit 19 in Elmhurst.
Records and press accounts describe the vehicles differently
The official crash record lists two westbound SUVs, a parked sedan and a parked diesel tractor truck. It identifies alcohol involvement for the 2017 Dodge SUV driver and also lists following too closely for that driver.
The Daily News, citing police, described a three-car crash involving two moving vehicles and the stalled car Santiago was trying to assist. The article identified the allegedly drunk driver as Denzel Porter and described his vehicle as a Dodge Durango.
Porter faced a vehicular manslaughter case
The Daily News reported that police arrested Denzel Porter on vehicular manslaughter charges and that he appeared for arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Saturday night. The article also reported that Santiago’s coworkers, friends and family gathered outside the courthouse and at a vigil outside Knights Towing in Bushwick.