‘I’ve been drinking’
Driver fesses after fleeing crash that killed pal
A speeding motorist who fled a Queens car crash — leaving one of his passengers to die — was driving drunk without a license, gave cops a fake name and falsely claimed he was a passenger, police said Thursday.
Harpreet Singh, 20, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving, leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving without a license after he was nabbed hours after the Richmond Hill collision, authorities said.
“I was scared,” Singh explained to police when he returned to the crash scene six hours later and confessed to being the driver, according to court papers. “I’ve been drinking.”
One of his passengers, identified as Suraj Yadav, 23, suffered a massive head injury and died at Jamaica Hospital. Two other passengers in Singh’s wrecked 2018 Honda Accord suffered minor injuries.
Singh was zipping east on Atlantic Ave. when he blew through a red light and slammed into a
Ford F-150 truck turning south onto 111th St. in Richmond Hill just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Video obtained by the Daily News shows Singh’s Honda hurtling through the intersection as it strikes the truck’s front end.
The Honda continued east on Atlantic Ave., striking a Mercedes-Benz SUV parked near the Leahy McDonald Funeral Home.
When first responders arrived, they found Yadav unconscious in the front passenger seat.
Officers found Singh sitting nearby on the sidewalk in the crash’s aftermath, prosecutors said. He seemed intoxicated, and gave police a fake name and claimed he had been in the car’s backseat, said authorities.
Singh then ran off, authorities.
Cops learned his true identity when he returned to the crash site about six hours later and confessed to being the man behind the wheel. said
Nearly seven hours after the crash, Singh’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.06% on a Breathalyzer, below the legal limit of 0.08%, prosecutors said.
A Queens Criminal Court judge ordered Singh held on $75,000 bail during a brief arraignment Wednesday night.
Yadav was an Indian immigrant who moved to America four years ago to support his family back home, friends said.
“He was a really hardworking and humble guy,” said his roommate, Gurpreet Singh, 24. “He was trying to fulfill his dreams.”
“This is so unfortunate for his family,” the roommate added. “I don’t know why this happened.”
Singh was Yadav’s friend, the roommate said. Yadav lived about two blocks from the crash scene and the foursome were driving to a nearby store, the roommate said.
The 49-year-old man driving the Ford truck refused medical attention. The 65-year-old woman behind the wheel of the parked Mercedes was taken to Jamaica Hospital with minor injuries, cops said.