Drivers sentenced after fatal Henry Hudson Parkway hit-run
At 10:52 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023, a 42-year-old motorcycle rider was killed on the Henry Hudson Parkway; prosecutors said Marcos Vega-Pagan and Cary Brown were racing when they hit Joel Quintana near West 145th Street and fled.
What We Know
A 42-year-old motorcycle rider died after a southbound crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem on Aug. 3, 2023. The city crash record recorded the time as 10:52 p.m. and listed unsafe speed as a contributing factor. Police and prosecutors later identified the rider as Joel Quintana and said Marcos Vega-Pagan, driving a BMW, and Cary Brown, driving a Mercedes-Benz, were racing near West 145th Street when Vega-Pagan hit Quintana and Brown hit him after he landed in the roadway. Both drivers fled, authorities said. Reports later said both men pleaded guilty to reduced charges and received prison sentences.
The crash sequence investigators described
The official record says the crash happened at 10:52 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023, on the Henry Hudson Parkway. It recorded one person killed: a 42-year-old male motorcycle driver. The record listed a motorcycle and two sedans, all traveling south, and named unsafe speed as a contributing factor.
Early police accounts reported by the Daily News and the Post placed the crash a few minutes later, at 10:57 p.m., near West 145th Street. Police said a speeding gray BMW driver hit the rider from behind, throwing him into the center lane, where a black Mercedes-Benz driver also hit him. Police said both drivers left the scene.
Prosecutors later said Marcos Vega-Pagan was driving the BMW and Cary Brown was driving the Mercedes-Benz while the two men were drag racing southbound on the parkway. District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged they reached speeds up to 90 mph before the crash.
A southbound parkway crash near West 145th Street
The crash was recorded on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. News accounts and prosecutors placed it near West 145th Street in Harlem; a later report described the site as near the Riverbank State Park overpass.
The location mattered in the prosecution because Bragg described highway racing on the Henry Hudson Parkway, not a routine city-street collision, and alleged speeds up to 90 mph.
Joel Quintana was identified after the crash
Police and prosecutors identified the person killed as Joel Quintana, 42. Reports described him as an Inwood resident, a father of six, a manager at the Loews Regency Hotel, and someone who enjoyed riding his motorcycle.
A later report said Quintana was riding his 2022 Honda GROM motorcycle to work when the crash happened. His sister Carolina Rodriguez told the Daily News, "Not one of them had the remorse to stay behind."
The official record listed a motorcycle and two sedans
The city record listed a 2022 Honda motorcycle, a 2010 BMW sedan, and a 2014 Mercedes sedan. All three were recorded as southbound and going straight before the crash.
Police and prosecutors described the two sedans as a gray BMW and a black Mercedes-Benz. Prosecutors said Vega-Pagan drove the BMW and Brown drove the Mercedes-Benz.
Speed was central in the record and the case
The official crash record listed unsafe speed for the collision and for both sedans. It also recorded tinted windows as a contributing factor for the BMW sedan.
Prosecutors alleged Brown and Vega-Pagan were racing when Vega-Pagan hit Quintana and Brown hit him moments later. A later report said authorities estimated the racing speed at 80 to 90 mph.
Charges led to prison sentences
Police arrested Cary Brown on Aug. 31, 2023, and charged him with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. At that point, police said the BMW driver was still at large.
Prosecutors later announced charges against Brown and Marcos Vega-Pagan, including manslaughter, assault, criminally negligent homicide, and leaving the scene. Brown was also accused of driving without a license, and Vega-Pagan faced insurance-fraud and business-record charges tied to a claim about the BMW damage.
A later report said both men pleaded guilty to reduced charges of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting and criminally negligent homicide. Vega-Pagan was sentenced to 3 2/3 to 11 years in prison, and Brown was sentenced to 3 to 9 years. Bragg called accountability for out-of-control driving "an important component of achieving overall public safety."