Vehicle Crash On L.I. Parkway Claims Three Lives
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HEMPSTEAD — A speeding car ricocheted off a parkway guide rail and flew into an overpass early yesterday, killing the three people inside the vehicle, police said.
Paul McKenzie was driving eastbound on the Southern State Parkway near the Grand Avenue exit just after 4:30 a.m. when he lost control of the car, state police said. The car hit the center median, went airborne and smashed into the Grand Avenue overpass.
McKenzie, 22, of Huntington, was thrown from the car and died at the scene, police said.
Front seat passenger Eric Whitfield, 20, of Shirley, and back seat passenger Darnell Peacock, 20, of Ridge, also were declared dead at the scene by an emergency medical technician from the South Hempstead Fire Department.
Speed was believed to be a contributing factor in the crash, said police, who still were investigating and were trying to find people who saw what happened. The speed limit in the area is 55 mph, but police didn’t say how fast they believed McKenzie’s car was going.
The winding 26-mile parkway, which has six lanes of traffic in most sections and eight in others, runs from the edge of Queens and through Long Island.
