Driver charged after fatal 123 mph Cross Island Parkway crash
A 24-year-old passenger was killed and two motorists were injured at about 3:15 a.m. April 8, 2022, after prosecutors said Makeda McDonald drove a 2017 Mercedes GLA at about 123 mph on the Cross Island Parkway during a rainstorm.
What We Know
At about 3:15 a.m. on April 8, 2022, a crash on the Cross Island Parkway killed a 24-year-old passenger and injured two motorists. Queens prosecutors later said Makeda McDonald drove a 2017 Mercedes GLA southbound during a rainstorm at about 123 mph, more than twice the 50 mph limit, before she entered a grass median and hit a guardrail near the highway split for the Southern State and Belt parkways. Moesha McLaughlin was pinned in the back seat and later pronounced dead. Nyasha Turnbull was seriously injured. McDonald was arraigned on charges including criminally negligent homicide; the indictment is an accusation, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Prosecutors described extreme speed in rain
The city crash record places the crash at about 3:15 a.m. on April 8, 2022, on the Cross Island Parkway and lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor. Queens prosecutors said Makeda McDonald drove a black 2017 Mercedes GLA 350 southbound during a rainstorm as she approached the split for the eastbound Southern State Parkway and the westbound Belt Parkway.
Prosecutors said McDonald was driving at about 123 mph on a roadway with a 50 mph speed limit, failed to maintain her lane, entered a grass median and hit a guardrail. The impact sent the Mercedes airborne and into several rollovers before it came to rest on its roof.
A back-seat passenger died and another passenger was gravely injured
Prosecutors identified the back-seat passenger as Moesha McLaughlin, 24, of Rosedale, and said she was McDonald's cousin. She was pinned inside, extracted and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Prosecutors identified the front passenger as Nyasha Turnbull, 32, of Rosedale, and said she was McDonald's aunt. She was found upside down with her seatbelt on, extracted and taken to a hospital with injuries to her lung, arm, shoulder, pelvis and liver. Audacy reported that McDonald also was taken to North Shore/Manhasset Hospital.
McDonald was indicted after turning herself in
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said McDonald, 28, of Philadelphia, turned herself in at the 105th Precinct and was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on a four-count indictment. Prosecutors charged her with criminally negligent homicide, reckless driving, driving in excess of the maximum speed limit and operating a vehicle at unreasonable speed.
Katz said, "A life has been cut short and a family left heartbroken because the defendant, as alleged, drove at nearly two-and-half times the speed limit." The district attorney's office said McDonald faced up to four years in prison if convicted and noted that indictments are accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Where
Cross Island Pkwy