Boozy drag race turns fatal on SI
A drag race between drunken drivers on the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island left one man dead and several people injured when both vehicles crashed early Sunday, authorities said.
Dennis White, 39, a passenger in a Dodge Charger, was killed.
“Everybody loved Dennis,” said his cousin, Calvin Johnson, one of several relatives who gathered outside his Brownsville, Brooklyn, home to mourn.
“He was a beautiful person with a big family. Everybody’s devastated,” Johnson added, noting that White’s mother recently died and he had been taking care of his father, who is in the hospital.
White was described by another relative as the “backbone of a large family.”
Police arrested Jermaine Simmons, 38, who was driving the Dodge, and charged him with DWI. He was also driving with a suspended license, according to authorities.
Hernan Zhagui, 49, the driver of the other vehicle, a Honda Pilot SUV, was also arrested and charged with DWI.
Police said Simmons was speeding his 2010 muscle car along a northbound lane when he rear-ended the 2005 Honda near Arden Avenue at about 2:15 a.m. The collision sent the two vehicles spinning out of control.
The Honda struck a third vehicle, a 2013 Ford van, then bounced back toward the median and crashed into a guardrail. The Dodge struck an overhead light on the right shoulder before sliding, upended, onto a grassy embankment. The driver of the van was able to main control.
First responders rushed White — who was sitting in the Dodge’s front passenger seat — to Richmond University Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.
“Jermaine Simmons killed my cousin,” another one of the victim’s relatives fumed.
Four other passengers — two riding in the back of the Dodge and two in the Honda — as well as the drivers were also taken to the medical center. All are expected to survive.
Both drivers were awaiting arraignment.