Driver and Passenger Die in Staten Island Expressway Fire
Jianna Pischetola, 22, and her passenger Gabriella Shammas, 22, died after a barrier collision, rollover and fire on the eastbound Staten Island Expressway late September 3, 2023, police said.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Jianna Pischetola and Gabriella Shammas, both 22, died on September 3, 2023, in a crash on the eastbound Staten Island Expressway. Pischetola was driving a Corvette, with Shammas in the front passenger seat. Police described a collision with a lane barrier, a rollover, contact with a Ford pickup and a fire. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene; police said nobody in the pickup was hurt. Fox 5 gave a conflicting account, describing a male driver and saying no other vehicle was involved. The city record identifies two 22-year-old women in the Corvette and documents a second vehicle.
A late-night collision ended in fire.
Police said Pischetola was driving a Chevy Corvette when a collision with a lane barrier was followed by a rollover, contact with a Ford pickup and a fire. Pischetola and Shammas were pronounced dead at the scene. Police said nobody in the pickup was hurt.
Reports place the crash on the eastbound expressway.
The collision occurred on the eastbound Staten Island Expressway just after 11 p.m. on September 3. CBS placed it near Hylan Boulevard, while the Daily News placed it near Clove Road.
Friends and neighbors remembered the two women.
Shammas had plans beyond college.
Shammas, of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, had earned a Brooklyn College psychology degree the week before the crash and planned to pursue graduate study. Sara Diangelis, the mother of Shammas's boyfriend, said the couple had planned to get engaged and described Shammas as close to her two brothers.
A funeral fundraiser remembered Pischetola.
Pischetola lived in Midland Beach on Staten Island. A fundraising post for her funeral described her as someone who lived with gusto and stood up for others.
One early report conflicts with the other accounts.
Fox 5 described a 21-year-old male driver and said no other vehicle was involved. The city record instead identifies the driver and passenger as 22-year-old women, and both CBS and the Daily News reported contact with a pickup.