Driver charged after DEP worker killed in Queens crash
At Lefferts Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, the official record reports one motorist killed and two injured; police said Errick Persaud drove a Mercedes into a DEP truck and was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI.
What We Know
The crash happened early on July 6, 2023, at Lefferts Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue in Queens. The official record lists a sedan and a box truck, with one motorist killed and two motorists injured. Police told the New York Post that Errick Persaud was driving a Mercedes south on Lefferts Boulevard when he hit the driver's side of an eastbound Department of Environmental Protection truck carrying two sewer maintenance workers. Authorities said the DEP passenger was ejected, pinned underneath, taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and pronounced dead. Police charged Persaud with vehicular manslaughter and DWI. The official record lists the person killed as a 36-year-old male occupant; the Post, citing police and DEP, described the victim as a 38-year-old DEP truck passenger.
A late-night crossing crash in Richmond Hill
The official record places the crash at 2:33 a.m. on July 6, 2023, at Lefferts Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue in Queens. It lists a sedan and a box truck, with one motorist killed and two motorists injured.
Police told the New York Post that Errick Persaud drove a Mercedes south on Lefferts Boulevard as a Department of Environmental Protection truck traveled east on Atlantic Avenue. Police said he hit the driver's side of the DEP truck.
An on-duty city worker died
Authorities told the Post that the DEP truck passenger was hurled out, pinned underneath, taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and pronounced dead. DEP said the two sewer maintenance workers had been serving the city overnight to keep critical operations running.
The official record lists the person killed as a 36-year-old male occupant. The Post, citing police and DEP, described the victim as a 38-year-old passenger in the DEP truck. The Post reported that the DEP truck driver and the Mercedes driver suffered minor injuries.
Police accused the Mercedes driver of impaired driving
Police identified the Mercedes driver as Errick Persaud, 24, and charged him with vehicular manslaughter and DWI, according to the Post. The article reported that he stayed at the scene and was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
Lefferts Boulevard has seen repeated harm
The crash happened at Lefferts Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue in Queens. CrashCountNYC's location context for Lefferts Boulevard in Queens counts 709 crashes, 532 injuries, 26 serious injuries and 4 deaths since 2022.
That record makes this intersection part of a corridor where fatal and serious traffic violence has continued beyond this single crash.
DEP mourned a worker killed on duty
DEP Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala said the department was devastated after one of its employees was killed on duty and expressed condolences to the worker's family. He also thanked both sewer maintenance workers for their service to the city.