Boy, 16, charged with manslaughter for crashing stolen car in Manhattan, killing two teen passengers

Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read
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A 16-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter for crashing a stolen car in Manhattan, killing two teenage passengers, police said Wednesday.

The teen driver is facing charges including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and criminal possession of stolen property for the early-morning July 3 crash in Washington Heights.

The arrested driver’s name was not released by the NYPD because he is a juvenile.

The boy was driving a stolen 2009 Hyundai Elantra uptown on Audubon Ave. when he blew through a red light and slammed into a Jeep Grand Cherokee heading west on W. 179th St., according to cops.

Careening out of control, the Elantra struck a parked car and overturned.

The Jeep struck a parked and unoccupied 2021 Audi Q3, which lurched forward and struck a parked and unoccupied 2016 Honda Accord, before coming to a rest in the crosswalk.

First responders pulled the teen driver from the mangled Hyundai along with 15-year-old Daniel Moran, 17-year-old Daniel Rodriguez and two other 15-year-old boys, cops said.

Moran and Rodriguez were rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia but they could not be saved. They lived in the same Bronx apartment building, according to police.

Duran was a sophomore at Cardinal Hayes High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Grand Concourse.

The driver and the other two passengers were taken to Harlem Hospital where they were initially in critical condition but have since recovered, cops said Wednesday.

Rodriguez and Duran were sitting in the back seat of the Elantra with one of the surviving 15-year-old boys. The other surviving 15-year-old was riding in the passenger seat, police said.

Damaris Perez, a 33-year-old laundromat worker, was walking up the block when he witnessed the crash and later saw first responders pulling victims from the wreckage.

“You couldn’t dream of what happened,” he told the Daily News. “I have kids, one is 14, and I know they are just kids.”

The 53-year-old man driving the Jeep was taken to Harlem Hospital with minor injuries.

The Elantra was reported stolen in Washington Heights in late June, cops said.

Police have seen a massive uptick in Hyundai thefts in the city this year thanks mostly to viral Tik Tok videos that expose flaws in the ignition systems of some Hyundai and Kia models.