Teen moped driver killed in Soundview crash
At about 6:44 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2025, at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street in the Bronx, 17-year-old Juan Alexander Quizhpi Naranjo was killed while driving a moped, and police said a 14-year-old passenger was injured.
What We Know
According to the police report, a 17-year-old male riding a motorbike with a learner’s permit hit an SUV head-on on Metcalf Avenue near East 172nd Street around 6:44 p.m. The rider was ejected and sustained fatal crush injuries to his head. Police listed the motorbike as traveling north and the SUV east, with both recorded as going straight before impact. No specific contributing factors were cited in the report.
What police said happened
The official city record lists the crash at 6:44 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2025, at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street. It records one motorist killed and one motorist injured.
Metcalf Avenue has seen repeated harm
The crash was recorded at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street in the Bronx.
CrashCountNYC location data for Metcalf Avenue in the Bronx shows 146 crashes, 74 injuries, 4 serious injuries and 2 deaths since 2022, making this corridor part of a documented pattern of traffic harm.
Two teens were on the moped
Police identified the driver who died as Juan Alexander Quizhpi Naranjo, 17, of the Bronx, and said he lived on Fteley Avenue, a few blocks from the crash site. The 14-year-old girl riding behind him was in stable condition as of Tuesday morning, according to NYPD officials cited by Gothamist.
Police said they were still looking into the teens' relationship to one another.
Sources describe the vehicles differently
The official record categorizes the two units as a motorcycle and a station wagon/SUV, and lists the motorcycle driver as holding a New York permit. Gothamist, citing police, described Quizhpi Naranjo as driving a moped and the other driver as a 42-year-old man in a Honda Odyssey minivan.