October got off to a deadly start on Staten Island as four people were killed in two separate motor vehicle collisions in the borough just five days into the month.
Three men were killed in a crash on the Staten Island Expressway just before 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 5, police sources said. A 2015 Chevrolet Cruze heading westbound on the major thoroughfare forcefully hit a barrier and flipped off the roadway.
EMS responded to the horrific crash and pronounced all three passengers in the car, men ages 25, 26 and 27, dead at the scene. As of Sunday morning, police were withholding the names of the victims pending family notification.
It is unclear at this time which man was driving the vehicle, but authorities stated that he failed to navigate the roadway. Police said there were no arrests.
A group of people were at the scene alongside police, with some on the phone, consoling each other and getting briefed by detectives, according to the Staten Island Advance.
The horrific incident occurred just four days after another fatal crash on Staten Island, where a 66-year-old woman was struck by an SUV driver crossing a major intersection in Richmond Valley on the borough’s south shore.
Officers from the 123rd Precinct responded to the crash, which occurred at around 6 a.m. on Oct. 1, and found the victim, Meiyun Chen of Staten Island, unconscious and unresponsive in the roadway. EMS rushed her to Staten Island University Hospital’s north campus, where she was pronounced dead.
An investigation found that a 2024 Mazda CX90, operated by a 48-year-old woman, was traveling westbound on Drumgoole Road West and proceeded through the intersection of Bloomingdale Road when it struck the pedestrian crossing on Veterans Road east from the south side to the north side of the street.
It is unclear if the driver was speeding or broke any traffic laws, but she remained at the scene and was not arrested.
Police said the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad is still investigating Sunday’s and Wednesday’s collisions.
Decrease in traffic deaths citywide
Both fatal crashes occurred around the same time as the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) touted 2025 as “one of the safest years on record.”
On Oct. 2, just one day after Chen was struck and killed, DOT released a report showing traffic fatalities in NYC dropped by 18% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
The DOT did not respond to amNewYork’s request for comment on this story, but agency officials last week credited the decline in part to major street redesigns across the city.
Some of the ongoing street overhauls in NYC include a controversial redesign of Staten Island’s Seaview Avenue in front of Staten Island University Hospital’s north campus, where a driving lane was reduced in both directions to accommodate protected bike lanes.
Since the redesign’s completion on April 10, residents have claimed that the street is now “more dangerous” than ever, and have expressed concerns about ambulances having to navigate the new traffic pattern to access the hospital.
One Staten Islander told amNewYork in April that his concern “lies with the ambulances” that now have to use a one-way street, cross a bike lane, and watch out for customers at a roadside food truck as they travel the street.
“Many cars stop at the food truck and double park, blocking the lane of traffic that an ambulance would have to use,” he said. “There is not much room to get out of the way of an ambulance behind you.”
Opposition to speed cameras on Staten Island
Meanwhile, some local politicians, along with outspoken Staten Island activist Scott LoBaido, continued their crusade against speed cameras in the borough during an Oct. 3 press conference about street safety.
LoBaido rebuked statements from speed camera proponents that the devices are all about street safety, instead contending they are a mere “cash grab” for state and city governments.
“I find it disgusting that we as New Yorkers allow the city to continue this cash grab — that’s all it is,” he said. “If it was about safety, they would have speed bumps. It’s just common sense. But asphalt does not ring the register.”
Echoing LoBaido’s sentiments, City Council Member David Carr, who represents Staten Island’s Mid-Island area, spoke about Intro. 161, a bill he sponsored that would assess a certain number of speed camera locations to determine the feasibility of speed reducers such as speed humps or cushions, or raised crosswalks.
“I would submit to the public that, again, this is a common-sense piece of legislation,” Carr said. “If you really want drivers to slow down, if that’s really the goal, what better way to do it than a physical impediment?”
Meanwhile, year-to-date, six people were killed in traffic fatalities, compared to seven in 2024 during the same period on Staten Island, according to the latest NYPD statistics.
