A 23-year-old woman is dead following a horrific car crash on Staten Island’s notorious Hylan Boulevard, where she was ejected from the vehicle as a result of the driver’s taking the wheel while drunk.
The driver, Adem Nikeziq, 30, of Great Kills, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, and driving while intoxicated, among other raps. Police have not identified the deceased woman, pending family notification.
Just before 4:45 am on Saturday, Jan. 28, police responded to a 911 call from Hylan Boulevard and Rose Avenue in New Dorp. Cops say Nikeziq, traveling with a 23-year-old woman, was driving his Dodge Challenger muscle car southbound on Hylan Avenue at a high rate of speed when he lost control and ultimately struck a utility pole. The car collided with the pole with such force that the vehicle split into three parts.
Nikeziq’s passenger was ejected from the Dodge and was found by cops with severe bodily trauma. She was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.
Nikeziq, who was arrested after cops determined he was drunk, was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in stable condition.
Hylan Boulevard, one of Staten Island’s main arterial roads, is also one of the city’s most notorious speedways, having been dubbed “the boulevard of death” by Transportation Alternatives in 2015. It’s been identified by the city’s Department of Transportation as a “high crash corridor;” 29 people lost their lives in the past decade from crashes on the corridor and more than 2,500 people were injured, according to NYC Crash Mapper.
Prior to Saturday, five people had been injured in the past decade in crashes at Hylan and Rose, according to Crash Mapper. In the same time period, seven people died and 517 were injured in crashes on Hylan within a nine-block radius.
Last year, DOT proposed safety-minded changes to the road’s southern section, noting the large number of crashes caused by speeding in the section between Satterlee Street and Page Avenue in Tottenville.
The plan to reduce motor vehicle lanes from four to two, while adding road diets and bike lanes, was pushed to the front burner after three teens died in a horrific high-speed wreck in July. The plan has nonetheless faced much opposition from elected officials and local residents in Tottenville.
DOT has not proposed a redesign of the boulevard’s northern section, where Saturday’s crash took place. In 2021, the city implemented a bus lane on the stretch, which was also controversial among locals.
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