Prosecutors: Driver’s Road Rage Led to Fatal LIE Crash
At about 3:04 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2024, on the Long Island Expressway, prosecutors said Shaqeem Douglas’s road-rage driving led to a three-vehicle crash that killed Lyft passenger Pradeppa Desai and injured two motorists.
Approximate reported location.
What We Know
On Aug. 14, 2024, a three-vehicle crash on the Long Island Expressway killed 41-year-old Lyft passenger Pradeppa Desai and injured two motorists. Queens prosecutors said Shaqeem Douglas drove a gray Honda sedan closely behind the Lyft SUV, cut in front of it, slowed, and stopped in the center lane despite no obstruction ahead. They said the Lyft driver stopped behind Douglas, and a driver in a Jeep then hit the rear of the SUV, pushing it into the Honda. Douglas was later indicted on manslaughter and related charges, and prosecutors said he left the scene and removed damaged parts from the Honda afterward.
Prosecutors described a road-rage stop on the expressway
Queens prosecutors said video showed Shaqeem Douglas driving a gray Honda sedan closely behind a yellow Toyota SUV operating as a Lyft on the Long Island Expressway, just west of the Van Wyck Expressway. They said he moved across lanes to pass, cut in front of the SUV, slowed, and then stopped in the center lane despite no obstruction ahead.
The Lyft driver stopped behind Douglas, prosecutors said. A driver in a Jeep Wrangler, traveling at what prosecutors described as a normal speed, tried to go around the stopped vehicles and hit the rear of the Lyft SUV; the SUV then rear-ended the Honda, and the Jeep rolled onto its side and came to rest on the right shoulder.
A Lyft passenger died after the crash
The city crash record lists one motorist killed and two motorists injured. The passenger who died was 41-year-old Pradeppa Desai, who prosecutors said was riding in the back seat of the Lyft SUV while in New York on a business trip. He was taken to a hospital with severe head and body trauma and died later that day.
Three vehicles were involved
The official record lists two SUVs and a sedan traveling west before the crash. It records a 2016 Toyota SUV with three occupants, a 2011 Jeep SUV with one occupant, and a 2017 Honda sedan. Prosecutors identified the Toyota as a yellow Lyft SUV and the Honda as a gray Honda Accord driven by Douglas.
The crash happened on the Long Island Expressway in Queens
The official crash record places the crash on the Long Island Expressway at about 3:04 p.m. Prosecutors said the events shown on video occurred just west of the Van Wyck Expressway, with the stopped vehicles in the center lane before the impact.
Douglas was indicted; another defendant was charged over an insurance report
Douglas, 26, of Freeport, was arraigned on an indictment charging him with manslaughter, assault, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, tampering with physical evidence, reckless driving, and driving too slow, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors also said Douglas left the scene in the damaged Honda, parked on Waldron Street, removed a piece of a yellow bumper and the Honda’s rear bumper, and drove away. They said a gray Honda Accord with a missing rear bumper was recovered two days later at his Freeport home.
Ariana Seratan, 26, of Freeport, was also arraigned on charges of falsifying business records and insurance fraud after prosecutors said she made a false insurance report claiming she had been driving the Honda. If convicted, she faces up to four years in prison.