Police: fleeing Mercedes driver ran red light in fatal Bushwick crash
At Central Avenue and Gates Avenue in Brooklyn, the official record lists one passenger killed and four motorists injured; police told the Post that Juan Lopez ran a red light while fleeing a traffic stop.
What We Know
A city crash record says a driver in a westbound sedan and a driver in a southbound SUV were involved in the May 26, 2024 crash at Central Avenue and Gates Avenue in Brooklyn, with one motorist killed and four injured. The record lists traffic control disregarded as a contributing factor. The New York Post, citing police, reported that Juan Lopez, 32, was driving a Mercedes, fled a traffic stop, ran a red light and hit a Honda Pilot carrying Micah Dukes, 29, in the back seat. The official record lists a 29-year-old female passenger as killed; the Post article’s body reported that Dukes was critically injured after police initially said she had died, while the article’s headline described her as killed.
Police described a traffic-stop flight before the crash
The city crash record says a driver in a sedan was traveling west and a driver in an SUV was traveling south before the crash at Central Avenue and Gates Avenue on May 26, 2024. The record lists traffic control disregarded as a contributing factor and records one motorist killed and four injured.
The New York Post, citing police, reported that Juan Lopez, 32, was behind the wheel of a Mercedes, fled a traffic stop in Bushwick, ran a red light and hit a Honda Pilot. A witness told the Post he saw a police car following the Mercedes before the driver ran the red light and hit the Honda.
A back-seat passenger was the fatality recorded by the city
The official record lists the person killed as a 29-year-old female passenger seated in the right rear of a vehicle. The Post identified the passenger as Micah Dukes, 29, and reported that she was in the back seat of the Honda Pilot with three other people.
The Post reported that Dukes was from Albany and had studied Community Health Navigation at Hudson Valley Community College, graduating in May 2023 with an Associate of Applied Science. The article’s body said she was critically injured after police initially said she had died, while the article’s headline and the official crash record describe a fatal outcome.
The official record lists a sedan and an SUV
The official record identifies the vehicles as a 2018 Mercedes sedan and a 2005 Honda SUV. It lists one occupant in the sedan and four occupants in the SUV.
Police told the Post that Lopez was driving the Mercedes and that Dukes was riding in the Honda Pilot. The city record lists both drivers as licensed.
The record and police account both focus on red-light disregard
The official crash record lists traffic control disregarded as the contributing factor for the sedan driver. The Post, citing police, reported that Lopez was drunk, fled from a traffic stop and ran a red light before the crash.
The Post reported that Lopez was arrested at the scene and hospitalized in stable condition. The reviewed text does not provide a complete list of charges.
The crash happened on a Gates Avenue corridor with repeated harm
The crash was recorded at Central Avenue and Gates Avenue in Brooklyn, a Bushwick intersection also named in the Post’s police account.
CrashCountNYC’s location context for Gates Avenue in Brooklyn shows 748 crashes, 422 injuries, 26 serious injuries and 2 deaths since 2022.