Two drivers indicted after motorcyclist dies on Henry Hudson Parkway
At 10:52 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023, city records show a fatal motorcycle-sedan crash with unsafe speed on the Henry Hudson Parkway; prosecutors later said Cary Brown and Marcos Vega-Pagan were drag racing when they hit 42-year-old Joel Quintana.
What We Know
The fatal crash happened late on Aug. 3, 2023, on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem. City records list unsafe speed in a crash involving a motorcycle and two sedans. Police accounts in the press put the impact about five minutes later than the city record. Prosecutors later said Cary Brown and Marcos Vega-Pagan were drag racing southbound when Vega-Pagan, driving a BMW, hit Joel Quintana on his motorcycle near West 145th Street and knocked him down; they said Brown, driving a Mercedes-Benz, then ran over Quintana and both drivers left the scene. Quintana, a 42-year-old Inwood man and father of six, died at Harlem Hospital. Brown and Vega-Pagan were indicted on manslaughter and other charges.
Prosecutors described a southbound race before the fatal impact
City records place the fatal crash at 10:52 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023, on the Henry Hudson Parkway and list unsafe speed in a crash involving a motorcycle and two sedans. Early police accounts reported the impact at 10:57 p.m. near West 145th Street.
Prosecutors said Cary Brown and Marcos Vega-Pagan were drag racing southbound at speeds up to 90 miles per hour. They alleged Vega-Pagan, driving a BMW, hit Joel Quintana on his motorcycle and knocked him down, and Brown, driving a Mercedes-Benz, then ran over him before both drivers left the scene.
The crash happened on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem
The official record locates the crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway. Press accounts place it near West 145th Street in Harlem, where Quintana was riding southbound.
The location matters because the criminal case centered on alleged drag racing on the parkway itself, with prosecutors saying both drivers were traveling southbound before the fatal impacts.
Joel Quintana died after being taken to Harlem Hospital
Joel Quintana was 42. The city record identifies the person killed as the motorcycle driver, and news accounts named Quintana as the motorcyclist who died after medics took him to Harlem Hospital.
Records and articles identify a motorcycle, a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz
The city record lists a 2022 Honda motorcycle, a 2010 BMW sedan and a 2014 Mercedes sedan, all traveling south with one occupant in each. Press accounts identified the BMW as gray and the Mercedes-Benz as black.
The official record lists the Mercedes driver as unlicensed and records unsafe speed for the BMW and Mercedes. Prosecutors said Brown drove the Mercedes-Benz and Vega-Pagan drove the BMW.
Speed was central in both the city record and the criminal case
The official crash record lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor. Prosecutors alleged Brown and Vega-Pagan were racing at up to 90 miles per hour before Quintana was hit.
Early police reporting said investigators were looking at whether drag racing played a role. By October, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the two men had displayed extreme recklessness and negligence when they allegedly raced down the parkway.
Both drivers were later charged
Police arrested Cary Brown on Aug. 31, 2023, and accused him of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene and aggravated unlicensed operation. The Post and Daily News reported at that time that the BMW driver had not yet been arrested.
On Oct. 10, 2023, prosecutors announced indictments against Brown and Marcos Vega-Pagan on manslaughter and other charges. Prosecutors also accused Vega-Pagan of insurance fraud and falsifying business records, alleging he falsely reported the BMW damage as a parked-car incident the day after the crash.