2 Queens teenagers among 4 killed on Long Island roads in 3 weekend crashes
Investigators at the scene of a fatal crash on the Southern State Parkway at Exit 35 in West Babylon early Sunday morning. Credit: Paul Mazza
Two teenagers from Queens were among the four people killed in a deadly series of crashes during the weekend on Long Island.
In a crash that closed the westbound Southern State Parkway for hours Sunday, Jevon Lyken, 19, of South Richmond Hill, was driving a 2015 Infiniti Q50 in the center lane at 5:40 a.m., approaching exit 35 near West Babylon, when the vehicle struck a 2015 Jeep Compass in the rear, the New York State Police said.
The impact caused the Infiniti to exit the roadway onto the right shoulder where it struck a tree, killing Lyken and his passenger, Debarpita Dey, 18, of Corona.
The collision caused the Jeep to spin and strike the center concrete barrier, subsequently coming to rest in the left lane. The driver of the Jeep was transported to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, police said.
Westbound traffic was diverted onto Exit 36 for more than five hours Sunday for the state police investigation of the crash.
The incident is one of three fatal crashes on Long Island this weekend that left four people dead.
About two hours before the Southern State Parkway crash, a pedestrian was struck and killed in South Farmingdale by a driver who fled the scene, police said.
The unidentified victim was struck on Merritts Road at 3:40 a.m. by the driver of a gray or silver pickup truck, according to police.
The male victim, who was not identified, was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The two Sunday crashes followed a fatal crash on Stewart Avenue in Uniondale on Saturday morning. Nassau police said a 37-year-old woman lost control of her 2016 Nissan Rogue shortly after midnight while eastbound near Selfridge Avenue, where she jumped a curb and slammed into a retaining wall.
She was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police.
With Maureen Mullarkey
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
