By Michael V. Cusenza
Sixty minutes before a pedestrian was killed on New Year’s Day in an auto accident on Woodhaven Boulevard, five people—including four borough residents—died in a car collision along an infamous stretch of the Cross Island Parkway in Whitestone, police said.
According to official reports, On Monday, Jan. 1, at approximately 5:50 a.m., police responded to a 911 call of a car crash on the northbound Cross Island Parkway near Exit 36S—known colloquially as “Dead Man’s Curve.”
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Four of the five victims lived in the same Jackson Heights building.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a man driving a Honda and another man driving a Mazda with five occupants collided at the narrow spot that has claimed numerous lives. EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the five occupants of the Mazda dead on scene. The driver of the Honda was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in stable condition.
There are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.
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One of the dead passengers resided in Corona.
The victims have been identified as: Kazeem Ramsahai, 24, of North Carolina; Mario Ocampo, 30, of Jackson Heights; Dayanara Benitez-Ocampo, 19, of Jackson Heights; Salma Garcia-Diaz, 23, Jackson Heights; and Jordy Bentances, 20, of Corona.
Families of the deceased have been notified, cops said.
