Teen moped operator and passenger killed on Cross Island Parkway
Police said 15-year-old Andy Rodriguez lost control while operating a moped near Cross Island Parkway and 150 Street, where the city crash record recorded two motorist deaths, including passenger Giselle Flores, 19.
What We Know
Andy Rodriguez, 15, was operating a moped with 19-year-old Giselle Flores as his passenger on the southbound Cross Island Parkway near 150th Street around 2 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2024, according to police accounts reported by the Daily News and the Post. The city crash record says two moped occupants were killed, and its vehicle entry says the driver was unlicensed. Police accounts in the initial reports said Rodriguez lost control, failed to navigate the roadway and hit a wall or barrier. A later Post story reported a different account from Flores’s twin sister, who said a friend told her Rodriguez hit a car before the wall. Flores was pronounced dead at the scene; Rodriguez was taken to Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where he died. The initial police account reported no arrests.
What police said happened
Police told reporters that Andy Rodriguez, 15, was operating a moped southbound on the Cross Island Parkway near 150th Street around 2 a.m. with 19-year-old Giselle Flores as his passenger when he lost control or failed to navigate the roadway and hit a wall or barrier.
The city crash record places the crash at Cross Island Parkway and 150 Street at 1:58 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2024, and records two motorists killed with no other injuries recorded.
Where the crash was reported
The official record identifies the location as Cross Island Parkway at 150 Street in Queens. Press accounts described the site as the southbound side of the parkway near the 150th Street overpass.
The two people killed
The city record identifies the people killed as a 15-year-old male driver and a 19-year-old female passenger. The Daily News and the Post identified them as Andy Rodriguez and Giselle Flores.
Authorities said Flores was pronounced dead at the scene. Reports said Rodriguez was taken by a friend or private means to Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The moped and the reported accounts
The city vehicle record describes a 2023 Taizhou moped traveling south with two occupants and says Rodriguez was unlicensed. The vehicle entry says he was going straight ahead before the crash.
The public accounts differ on whether there was contact with a car before the wall. Police accounts in the Post and Daily News said Rodriguez lost control, failed to navigate the roadway and hit a wall or barrier; a later Post story said Flores’s twin sister was told by a friend that Rodriguez hit a car before the wall.
No arrests in the initial account
The Post reported on the day of the crash that there had been no arrests and that police were still investigating who took Rodriguez to the hospital and whether that person could have helped Flores.
Family remembered Giselle Flores
Flores’s twin sister, Sharick Flores, told the Daily News and the Post that Giselle had expected to get a ride home and meet family later that day. She described Giselle as someone who urged loved ones to live in the moment and said the family was raising money for funeral costs.