Driver Charged After Passenger Dies at Atlantic and Court
Kashawn Croswell was charged with manslaughter after police said he sped through a red light at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, where city records show an 18-year-old passenger was killed and three motorists were injured.
What We Know
According to the police report, Two sedan drivers collided at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street in Brooklyn around 3:22 a.m. on August 18 . Police recorded unsafe speed by one driver. An 18-year-old front-seat passenger in that car died from internal injuries. The 32-year-old woman driving suffered a leg fracture. Both vehicles were traveling straight ahead on the overnight arterial.
A pre-dawn collision at Atlantic and Court
City records place the crash at 3:22 a.m. on Aug. 18, 2023, at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street in Brooklyn. Police accounts published by Gothamist and the Daily News said Kashawn Croswell, driving a Mercedes, traveled south on Court Street, sped through a red light and hit the passenger side of a Honda Accord.
Shanti Joyner, 18, was riding in the front passenger seat of the Honda. First responders took her to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Atlantic Avenue's Brooklyn corridor has a long crash record
The crash happened where Atlantic Avenue meets Court Street in Brooklyn, on a commercial stretch news accounts described as outside the local Trader Joe's.
CrashCountNYC's location context for Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn counts 4,096 crashes, 2,408 injuries, 109 serious injuries and 10 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Councilmember Lincoln Restler told Gothamist the area is one of the most dangerous in Brooklyn and called the death another preventable tragedy on Atlantic Avenue.
Shanti Joyner was riding home from work
The Daily News identified the passenger who died as Shanti Joyner and reported that she and Iesha Joyner, her older sister, were returning from late-night shifts at a Brooklyn bar. The official record lists the person killed as an 18-year-old female front-seat passenger.
Investigators focused on speed, a red light and leaving the scene
The city crash record lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor and identifies the vehicles as two sedans. Police told reporters that Croswell was speeding when he went through a red light on Court Street.
Police said Croswell left the scene on foot after the crash and was apprehended nearby. Later reports said prosecutors charged him with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
Public reports and the city record differ on injuries
The city record lists one death and three injured motorists. AMNY and the New York Post reported four other people hurt, including other occupants of the Honda and a woman riding in the Mercedes; early Gothamist coverage also said the Mercedes driver was hospitalized.