Speed turns fatal
Cops tried to stop driver before crash on L.I.
Police on Long Island tried to pull over a speeding motorist shortly before he veered into oncoming traffic and struck an Uber head-on in a horrifying collision that killed five people, including both drivers, officials said Tuesday.
Cops said Justin Mendez was going 15 mph above the speed limit Saturday night as he sped along Montauk Highway in Quogue when a police officer flashed his patrol car’s lights in an attempt to pull over Mendez’s Nissan Maxima.
But the driver drove on and may have even turned off his car’s lights before he lost control on a sharp bend and slammed into the Uber driver’s Toyota Prius.
It’s not clear if Mendez was trying to evade police, who said they never gave chase.
“The officer very quickly loses sight and never catches up,” Quogue Police Chief Christopher Isola said at a press conference Tuesday. “The officer did observe [the car] at a high rate of speed along with some witnesses.”
Uber driver Farhan Zahid and three of his four passengers were killed in the crash along with Mendez, 22.
Cops said Mendez had a small amount of marijuana in his car and in his system.
Killed along with the drivers were Ryan Kiess, 25, of Manhasset, and brothers Michael Farrell, 20, and James Farrell. Kiess’ girlfriend, Brianna Maglio, 22, of Garden City, was hospitalized in critical condition with no knowledge that her friends had been killed.
The group had called an Uber to take them to a dancing spot but never made it there.
Zahid, 32, a Pakistani immigrant, had been an Uber driver for two years. The husband and father of three was working to support his children and wife, Hifsa Ahmad, who was planning to open a beauty parlor in their hometown of Bay Shore next month.
The family was also planning a trip to Pakistan for the wedding of Ahmad’s sister. Instead, family in Pakistan is making arrangements to come to New York for Zahid’s funeral.
“He used to work at nighttime so he could spend time with his family in the day,” said Zahid’s brother-in-law Syed Rizvi, 30.
Rizvi said Zahid would usually come home from driving around 3 a.m., but on Sunday never made it home. Instead, cops showed up at 6 a.m. to deliver the awful news.
“We lost everything.” he said. “The kids lost their father.”
Rizvi recounted that on Monday night, Zahid’s toddler woke up in the middle of the night, waddled to his parents’ bed looking for Zahid and began bawling when he couldn’t find his father.
“The two oldest have been asking us the past two days, ‘When is my father coming home,’ and no one has the words to tell them he is no longer with us,” Rizvi said.
Police said the stretch of road where the crash occurred is difficult to negotiate without slowing down.
A resident, Melissa Barrett, 51, who lives near the site said the curve is a “death trap.”
She said she was picking up kids when she stumbled upon the aftermath of the crash. If she had been there three minutes sooner, she said, she would have been in the wreck.
A neighbor in Shirley who knew Mendez said his life should not be judged by one mistake.
“He’s a good kid,” the neighbor said. “He’s young, 22. He did something stupid. We’ve all been there.”
Mendez’s parents told WCBSTV their son was a good person.
“I don’t know how what happened, but I don’t want anyone to think any less of my son, because he was a good boy. He was our everything,” Justin’s father, Octavio Perez, said.
“He didn’t live to see this, because the guilt would have just chewed him up,” his mother, Aida Perez, told the station. “He probably wouldn’t have been able to function, taking somebody else’s life. My son was very humble.”
Zahid’s family said they feel no anger toward Mendez.
“He’s not with his family anymore,” Rizvi said. “The parents lost their loved one. That son would have been just as important as our brother-in-law was to us.”