NYPD: “No Criminality” When SUV Drivers Collide, Plow Into Family

No one was criminally responsible for a grisly high-speed crash in Brooklyn this weekend that left one bystander dead and three members of her family injured, according to NYPD.

No crime occurred at the scene of this crash, which left one person dead and multiple others hospitalized, according to NYPD. Photo: New York Post

Accounts vary regarding the events leading up to the crash, which occurred at W. Fifth Street and Quentin Road in Gravesend at around 2:25 p.m. Saturday. The Post reported that the driver of an Acura SUV ran a stop and plowed into a Jeep SUV, flipping the Jeep and sending it into a group of people standing on the sidewalk. But according to DNAinfo, the driver of the Jeep was speeding, and the Acura driver “lost control” and hit the pedestrians.

Witnesses recalled the horrific aftermath. From the Post:

“My mother and I heard screaming and a huge explosion coming from [the street.] I immediately thought my brother could be out there,” said Diana Babbo, 18.

“I ran up the street and saw that a Jeep was flipped over. An entire family was pinned between the jeep and a parked car on the street,” she said.

“A lady was completely dead or passed out. It was horrifying. An infant and two other people were under the car. It was so terrible. I’m trembling thinking about it.”

Babbo bawled as they pulled the car off the woman, she said.

“She was turning blue,” the teen recalled.

“The guy driving the Jeep had his head cracked open. He was walking towards the police after they cut him out of his car.”

Chenugor Dao, 60, died later at Lutheran Medical Center, where her husband, daughter and granddaughter, age 1, were admitted in stable condition. Accounts are inconsistent, but multiple passengers in the Jeep were reported hospitalized with serious injuries.

“Cars do not stop at this crosswalk on a regular basis,” said local resident Sal Baglieri, to DNAinfo. A woman who witnessed the crash said: “This happens every couple of weeks. I don’t even feel safe standing here. Six weeks ago a car pinned a pedestrian by the wall there.”

Per the Post: “No criminality is suspected, and the cause of the accident is still unknown, cops said.” And there you have it: Before determining the cause of a fatal traffic collision, even one with such force that a vehicle flipped onto a sidewalk, NYPD absolves the drivers involved.

This fatal crash occurred in the 62nd Precinct. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector James Rooney, the commanding officer, go to the next precinct community council meeting. The 62nd Precinct council meetings happen at 7:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month at the precinct, 1925 Bath Avenue. Call 718-236-2501 for information.

The City Council district where Chenugor Dao was killed is represented by David Greenfield. To encourage Greenfield to take action to improve street safety in his district and citywide, contact him at 718-853-2704, dgreenfield@council.nyc.gov or @NYCGreenfield.

  • Guest

    Just get it over with an file a civil suit against NYPD. You’ve cataloged tens if not hundreds of deaths and documented what could only be described as apathy by the police department in investigation crashes, enforcing the rules that prevent these deaths, and penalizing the drivers whose actions either negligently or recklessly cause them. 

  • Guest

    I for one feel that Brad should someday win a Pulitzer or some other distinction for this work. This is exactly what the media is supposed to do. Nice work Mr. Aaron. Reporting like this is often the catalyst for change.

  • Guest

    I for one feel that Brad should someday win a Pulitzer or some other distinction for this work. This is exactly what the media is supposed to do. Nice work Mr. Aaron. Reporting like this is often the catalyst for change.

  • Guest

    I for one feel that Brad should someday win a Pulitzer or some other distinction for this work. This is exactly what the media is supposed to do. Nice work Mr. Aaron. Reporting like this is often the catalyst for change.

  • Nathanael

    The NYPD does not seem to know the definition of criminality.

    You’ve got a year’s data of the NYPD letting people go who are guilty of, at least, involuntary manslaughter.  I agree with the Guest: it’s time to find a venue to sue the NYPD to force them to start following the law.

  • Nathanael

    The NYPD does not seem to know the definition of criminality.

    You’ve got a year’s data of the NYPD letting people go who are guilty of, at least, involuntary manslaughter.  I agree with the Guest: it’s time to find a venue to sue the NYPD to force them to start following the law.

  • Nathanael

    The NYPD does not seem to know the definition of criminality.

    You’ve got a year’s data of the NYPD letting people go who are guilty of, at least, involuntary manslaughter.  I agree with the Guest: it’s time to find a venue to sue the NYPD to force them to start following the law.

  • Anonymous

    The NYPD is not obliged by law to do its own job. A lawsuit would be dismissed. 

  • USbike

    ocschwar  That may be so currently, but if enough citizens of NYC demand that action be taken on this by the NYPD, it wouldn’t be able to go on like this forever.  This can be done either with mass protest, petitions, etc.  Obviously that’s not happening and is unlikely to happen anytime soon.  But a unified voice of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people within the city cannot be ignored for long without significant consequences.  The question is, when will this ever happen?

  • Joe R.

    @52388b1fc9cb07c785d5c81faf150e28:disqus We need petitions or mass protests, but not necessarily on the lack of action by the NYPD. The real problem is the sheer volume of motor traffic, which in turn leads to carnage. Investigating collisions more fully isn’t going to necessarily lead to a drop in deaths and injuries. Rather, we should protest to get the city to take measures to significantly reduce the number of motor vehicles on the streets. Tolling the free bridges, eliminating free curbside parking, reducing offstreet parking, congestion pricing, even outright banning private cars in certain areas, are all measures the city needs to take.

  • moocow

    Mass protests are great, but the NYPD was allowed to write the laws on unpermitted public gathering, and 49 person groups aren’t that impressive.

  • Pacabn

    You dont know what is criminal or criminality!, speeding is a violation. punishable by a summons. Even if you kill someone while speeding, thats all it is. That is case law, unless your drunk, or leave the scene. Research it. All you posters write all kinds of stuff on here and dont know what your talking about

  • lb

    The fact that the NYPD still use the term “accident” when they should be using the term “collision” or “crash” tells us everything.  They absolve everyone immediately.

  • moocow

    Paca, then why is there still no criminality when someone is drunk or when they leave the scene? Look it up, rarely does NYPD do anything then either.  

  • Ian Turner

    @979ad914969323cdd9ed96cd5a373a19:disqus : § 125.15 New York Penal Code: “A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when He recklessly causes the death of another person”. Intent to kill is not needed.

  • Andrew

    It’s obvious from that photo that all parties were scrupulously following the law.

  • Pacabn

    Ian, the courts have decided that speeding in itself is not reckless.

  • Anonymous

    @979ad914969323cdd9ed96cd5a373a19:disqus 

    Ian, the courts have decided that speeding in itself is not reckless.

    Perhaps there were other factors in addition to speeding.  An investigation could tell us that. 

  • Pacabn

    JarekAF, like what?, pretty much nothing but drinking or leaving the scene has been decided by the courts. Leaving the scene must be Knowingly and Intentionaly. it is difficult to prove these words: INTENTIONAL, KNOWINGLY, ect. The laws must be changed, and not just penalties for laws that cant be proven under our legal system.

  • Adam Anon

    “The courts have decided that speeding in itself is not reckless.” – Seriously? Jeez…. if going 50mph on 30mph residential street is not reckless then I don’t know what is. We have truly broken legal system and useless police.

  • Brad Aaron

    @979ad914969323cdd9ed96cd5a373a19:disqus Regular readers of this blog are well versed on the shortcomings of vehicular crimes law and the difficulties in enforcing it. They also know that NYPD and city district attorneys routinely fail to enforce the laws on the books, denying the possibility of justice to thousands of people who are hurt and killed in traffic every year and ensuring that those laws are rarely tested in court.

    It’s a topic that is discussed on this board virtually every day. Research it.

  • Speakatus Sparkatus

    Adam Anon, 
    You are absolutely right.  Time to start making noise about what is and isn’t reckless. Apparently cyclists have been deemed reckless for riding in the road (see link below) …seems like exceeding the speed limit in urban areas has more risk associated.

    It’s just not credible to assert as the NYPD has that no one was being reckless if a crash involves a speeding car and another that ran a stop sign and results in lots of injured people and dead grandmothers.
    http://usa.streetsblog.org/2010/08/19/texas-judge-deems-cyclist-guilty-for-riding-on-the-road/

  • Anonymous

    I’m the last person to defend the NYPD, but the problem isn’t just that the police don’t want to enforce the law. 
    It’s also that the DAs office typically doesn’t want these cases, thus encouraging the police not to bring them in.
    And the DAs don’t want them because the existing laws make it hard to charge any kind of criminality for drivers who do stupid and dangerous things.
    This problem requires changes in legislation at least as much as changes in enforcement.  Laws to make drivers bear the consequences of bad things that happen as a result of behavior like speeding, running lights, or just not paying sufficient attention.  But those laws don’t exist right now.

  • I’m sorry but this is a false account. I was a passenger in the overturned jeep during this accident. I was the 21 year old in a JEEP who had his head cracked open and was sent to Kings County Hospital for critical care. The guy ran through the stop sign on west 5th and hit us on the back tire and back door. So before you go and write these false stories, why not ask the people who were involved. The acura mdx hit us and then with his speed kept going on to hit 4 pedistrians and killing 1. Its a shame that journalism is becoming so dumb. They’ll put anybody online for any story and then sugarcoat it with garbage bs. If you’d like to know more, here is the video that my friend found me in, it was taken with 15 seconds of the accident. Get your facts straight. 

  • @facebook-670020785:disqus  The second sentence of this story reads: “Accounts vary regarding the events leading up to the crash.” So please point out how what was actually written above constitutes a “false account.”

  • Russell’s Teapot

    Ha ha ha! Woman driver!

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