NY police ID 3 victims in July 24 fatal crash on Northern State

Police on Wednesday identified the victims of a fiery fatal July 24 crash on the Northern State Parkway.

Three young men on their way to play in the third and final day of Sikh Hoops, a basketball tournament for the Sikh community, were killed when their vehicle left the roadway about 5:30 a.m. and struck multiple trees on the shoulder in the town of North Hempstead, state police said.

The victims were identified as Puneet Singh, 23, of Iselin, New Jersey, who was driving, and passengers Harpaul Multani, 23, of Jamaica, Queens and Amarjit Singh, 23, of Hazlet, New Jersey.

The tournament was held at LIU Post in Brookville.

“It’s a big loss to the community,” said Akash Singh, of New Jersey, and a friend of Amarjit Singh. He set up a GoFundMe site to create a memorial. Akash Singh said the three men had stayed in a hotel on Long Island and were on their way to warm up for an early morning game when they crashed.

“Our community remembers them as admirable young men with hopeful hearts and infectious personalities,” a post from the Sikh Hoops Facebook page said. “We will never forget their zeal and devotion to life and to the sport of basketball.”

Amarjit Singh worked at a New Jersey engineering firm after graduating from Rutgers University in 2021 with a degree in engineering, according to the GoFundMe page.

“Amarjit loved playing sports and more specifically, basketball,” according to the page, which described him as “very outgoing” and “kind.”

“All Amarjit ever wanted to do was continue succeeding in life and to continue making his parents proud,” the page said.

Harpaul Multani was working on a bachelor’s degree in human biology at CUNY Hunter with the long-term goal of becoming a surgeon, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his brother, Amritpaul Multani. He sometimes drove a yellow taxi to help his mother, who raised the two boys alone, according to the page.

“I couldn’t have had a better older brother who always made sure I ate every meal, enjoyed everything that made me happy and made me the strong and caring man I am today,” his brother wrote. “As the eldest son, Harpaul was my mother’s crown jewel, her right hand that made sure through all the challenges in life, my mom was happy.”

With John Valenti