Two drivers sentenced after fatal Henry Hudson Parkway hit-and-run.
Going to Work
Prosecutors said Marcos Vega-Pagan and Cary Brown were racing south when Vega-Pagan struck 42-year-old motorcyclist Joel Quintana and Brown ran over him; the official record lists one death in a Henry Hudson Parkway crash at 10:52 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Prosecutors alleged Vega-Pagan knocked Quintana from his motorcycle, and Brown then ran over him as the two drivers raced south on the Henry Hudson Parkway. Both drivers fled. Quintana, a 42-year-old father of six, was taken to Harlem Hospital, where press reports said he died. Our Town later reported that both drivers pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene and received prison terms.
Prosecutors alleged that two drivers were racing.
Manhattan prosecutors alleged that Vega-Pagan, driving a BMW, struck Quintana from behind and knocked him from his motorcycle. They said Brown, driving a Mercedes, then ran over Quintana, and both drivers fled. Early police reports said investigators were still determining whether the drivers had been racing; prosecutors later alleged that they were.
Press reports said emergency responders took Quintana to Harlem Hospital, where he died.
Reports disagree about the exact stretch of parkway.
The official record places the Aug. 3, 2023, crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway at 10:52 p.m. Press accounts describe a southbound crash in Harlem. The Daily News placed it near West 145th Street at 10:57 p.m.; CBS placed it near 158th Street just before 11 p.m. Our Town also reported West 145th Street and a time of about 10:50 p.m. The reports differ on the precise location and time.
Quintana was an Inwood father and hotel manager.
Joel Quintana was 42 and lived in Inwood. Our Town reported that he was a father of six and managed the Loews Regency Hotel. The Daily News reported that he enjoyed riding motorcycles. Patch, citing an interview with his sister Carolina Rodriguez in the Daily News, reported that he left a wife and six children and that Rodriguez described him as a hardworking family man.
Both drivers later received prison sentences.
Our Town reported that Vega-Pagan and Brown pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene. It reported that Vega-Pagan was sentenced to three years and eight months to 11 years in prison, and Brown to three to nine years.