Teen Driver Hits Train Pillar in Brooklyn; 4-Year-Old Dies
A 16-year-old pickup driver struck an elevated-train pillar near Atlantic and Brooklyn avenues on November 7, 2023; four-year-old passenger Giovanni Quiles later died, and two people were injured.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
A 16-year-old was driving a pickup east on Atlantic Avenue near Brooklyn Avenue at about 5 p.m. on November 7, 2023, when he struck a support pillar for an elevated train, police said. Four-year-old passenger Giovanni Quiles was critically injured and died at Maimonides Medical Center on November 28. The driver and an 11-year-old passenger were also injured. Police arrested the teen and reported charges including child endangerment and driving without a license.
Reported vehicle makes
- GMC — accepted press report
Make information is incomplete for the vehicles involved in this crash.
The collision
Police said a 16-year-old driving a 2023 GMC Sierra 3500 pickup east on Atlantic Avenue struck a support pillar for an elevated train at about 5 p.m. on November 7. Giovanni Quiles, 4, was in the rear seat, and an 11-year-old boy was in the front seat. City records show one death and two injuries; news reports identify the injured people as the driver and the 11-year-old.
Atlantic Avenue near Brooklyn Avenue
The crash happened near the Atlantic Avenue and Brooklyn Avenue intersection, where an elevated-train support pillar stood along the driver's route. Patch described the area as Bed-Stuy; the Daily News called it Crown Heights.
Giovanni Quiles
Giovanni, 4, lived in Melville on Long Island, police told the Daily News. Medics took him to Kings County Hospital in critical condition, and he was later transferred to Maimonides Medical Center. He died there on November 28, three weeks after the crash.
What police and city records say
Police told the Daily News that the teenage driver failed to navigate the roadway before striking the pillar. City crash records list driver inattention or distraction for the collision and driver inexperience and unsafe speed for the pickup's driver.
Arrest and reported charges
Police took the 16-year-old driver into custody at the scene. The Daily News reported charges of endangering the welfare of a child, driving without a license, a local-law violation, and alcohol and cannabis in a motor vehicle on a highway. Patch described the substance-related allegation as having either alcohol or marijuana in the pickup, while El Diario described an accusation of intoxicated driving. Those reports give different accounts of the substance-related allegation.