By Forum Staff
An 18-year-old was sentenced on Saturday to 1 1/3 to four years in prison for causing the death of Fortune Williams, a 14-year-old passenger in the BMW he was driving at a speed in excess of 100 mph in 2023 when he was 16 years old and slammed into a UPS truck on North Conduit Avenue in Springfield Gardens.
The 18-year-old, of 227th Street in Springfield Gardens, pleaded guilty on May 12 to manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second and third degrees, reckless endangerment in the second degree, reckless driving and numerous vehicle and traffic violations. His name is being withheld because of his age.
The Hon. Michael Yavinsky on Saturday granted the defendant youthful offender status and sentenced him to 1 1/3 to four years in prison.
According to the charges, on May 17, 2023, at approximately 6:38 p.m., the then 16-year-old defendant was driving a red 2005 BMW 325i westbound on North Conduit Avenue near 160th Street at a speed calculated at 101 miles per hour, with Fortune Williams in passenger seat of the vehicle.
The posted speed limit on the street is 30 miles per hour.
The teenager lost control of the vehicle when attempting to move from the left-center lane to the right-center lane and crashed into the back of a parked UPS truck. After hitting the truck, the BMW spun across the roadway and struck a tractor-trailer traveling westbound.
As a result of the initial collision, Williams was ejected from the front passenger seat of the BMW into the back of the UPS truck. She suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A UPS employee, who was entering his truck as the BMW collided with it, was thrown to the ground in the collision. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a large hematoma to his leg, a laceration to his face and a bruise to his chest.
At the hospital where he was being treated for minor injuries, the defendant told police that he had picked Williams up at her home and was taking her to his grandmother’s house. Sean Smith, who was with his son at the hospital, told police that while the BMW was registered in his name, he had bought the vehicle for his son and that the car belonged to his son.
The son had a junior driver’s license, which prohibited him from driving under any circumstances in New York City.
Three weeks after the fatal crash, on June 7, 2023, Smith told the car’s insurer that his son had driven the BMW approximately twice with him in the vehicle and that his son was a good driver.
The teen’s parents were previously sentenced on endangering the welfare of a child charges for giving their son access to the car when he was legally unable to drive the vehicle. This case marked the first time parents were convicted on such charges related to a fatal car crash in Queens and was believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in New York State.
