One person has died and four have been injured following a multiple-vehicle crash which resulted in one overturned vehicle on the Major Deegan Expressway at Van Cortlandt Park South in the North Bronx in the early hours of Sunday morning, Aug. 13, at around 4.14 a.m.

 

Norwood News contacted the NYPD and EMS for more details of the incident. An EMS official said they were alerted to the incident at 4.14 a.m. “Units were assigned to the [referenced] location for reports of a trauma,” the EMS official said. “There were five patients – total.” They said one patient was pronounced deceased at the scene and four patients were transported to St Barnabas Hospital. Their descriptions and conditions were unknown.

An NYPD spokesperson later said that the accident occurred near 238th Street and involved three vehicles. “Looks like you have a 2018 Honda Accord that was disabled in the left lane on the southbound side of the Deegan,” the spokeswoman said. “That vehicle was disabled. It looks like [it] lost control in the wet in the rain last night. Looks like it struck a wall, probably the divider, because it was pulled over in the left lane.”

 

The spokeswoman continued, “The operator of that Honda is a 22-year-old male. So, he gets out to inspect for the damages on his vehicle. So, at this point, he’s outside of the vehicle and while he’s outside of the vehicle, there is a 2021 Subaru [CTX] that’s operated by a 61-year-old male. He’s driving in the left [southbound] lane of the Major Deegan. That Subaru collides with the Honda. The Honda that is there then strikes the male who got out of the Honda. Then, after that male is struck by the Honda, he is thrown over to the northbound side of the Deegan where he’s, again, struck by another vehicle, which is a Jeep Wrangler.”

 

The police official added, “The operator of the Jeep Wrangler is also injured in this collision. The 22-year-old male who exited the vehicle, he’s pronounced deceased at the scene by EMS. The operator of the Jeep Wrangler is a 37-year-old male, and that male is in critical condition, and he is taken to St. Barnabas.”

A CRASH INVOLVING an overturned vehicle occurred at around 4.30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023 on the Major Deegan Expressway at Van Cortlandt Park South in the North Bronx, according to State officials. Video courtesy of the Citizens’ App

When asked if the Subaru was a motorcycle, the spokeswoman said it was not, and that no motorcycles were involved in the incident.

 

Police later confirmed that the preliminary investigation by the NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad had determined that the 2018 Honda Accord driver had lost control of the vehicle on the wet roadway and had struck a wall. They said the Subaru then pushed the stationary Honda forward, causing it to make contact with the pedestrian, and as a result of the impact, the pedestrian was thrown over the center wall of the highway into oncoming northbound traffic.

 

They said that after hitting the driver of the Honda, the 37-year-old male driver of the Jeep Wrangler lost control of the vehicle on the wet roadway, struck the right-side wall of the highway, and overturned onto its passenger side. They said the Jeep continued to slide along the roadway, partially ejecting the driver through the soft-top roof of the vehicle. They said he was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition and the investigation remains ongoing.

 

Police said the deceased pedestrian [Honda driver] has been identified as Justin Francisco, 22, of Mount Vernon, NY. They said in the 2018 Honda Accord, there was also a 22-year-old male front seat passenger who was not injured, and a 23-year-old male back seat passenger who was not injured either.

They said in the 2021 Subaru CTX, the 61-year-old male driver was not injured and the 20-year-old male front seat passenger was also not injured. They said in the 2021 Jeep Wrangler, the only occupant was the 37-year-old male driver who had been removed by EMS to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition.

 

Two northbound lanes were initially blocked as of 4:30 a.m., State officials said. All northbound lanes were later blocked and the southbound side lanes were also later blocked due to NYPD activity, with traffic being detoured to the Van Cortlandt Park South Exit as of 5:30 a.m.

 

All lanes were later cleared and reopened, according to State officials.

 

For collision investigations, the NYPD handles all criminal aspects of the investigation, while NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) reviews the street design at the locations of such crashes.

 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on Twitter @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.