Latest news with #CarmenColon
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Video Shows Fiery Fatal Crash After Police Chase
It was still dark when the driver of a stolen Honda CRV sped down a ramp off the Henry Hudson Parkway and careened out of control into a building in Upper Manhattan. Flames immediately erupted from the rear of the vehicle, according to video surveillance footage released by a lawyer for the driver's family on Thursday. About 10 seconds later, at 4:40 a.m. on April 2, the police car that had been chasing the S.U.V. drove down the same ramp. The flames had diminished but still appeared to be flickering when the cruiser, its siren lights off, reached the bottom of the ramp. The officer driving the cruiser slowed down, but instead of turning toward the Honda he turned left on Dyckman Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan and left the wreckage behind. The driver, Francisco A. Guzman Parra, 31, died from blunt impact injuries to the head and torso and 'thermal injuries,' according to the medical examiner's office. The video, which the family obtained from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, gave the first visual account of a crash that is now being investigated by the Manhattan district attorney's office and led to the suspension of the two officers in the cruiser. Mr. Guzman Parra's family said the video confirmed what they had feared for months: that the police left him to die. 'They could have helped get him out,' said Carmen Colon, his stepmother, who, along with Mr. Guzman Parra's sisters, spoke with reporters after watching the video at their lawyer's office in Lower Manhattan. 'I think that when we see that video we're seeing a crime being committed,' she said. About 16 minutes after the crash, firefighters and officers from the 34th Precinct, which covers Inwood, received a 9-1-1 call about a car on fire. When they arrived, they found the Honda fully engulfed in flames. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Surveillance video allegedly shows NYPD officers leaving scene of deadly crash
Surveillance footage allegedly shows two New York City police officers leaving the scene of a deadly crash in northern Manhattan earlier this year. The crash happened in Inwood just after 4 a.m. on April 2. In the footage, a driver is seen speeding down the Dyckman Street exit off the Henry Hudson Parkway southbound before crashing and catching on fire. Seconds later, an NYPD police cruiser also takes the exit, but it makes a left at the end of the ramp and appears to leave the scene. Fire trucks later arrive and put the flames out. Two New York City police officers are suspended for allegedly leaving the scene of a fatal crash after a pursuit on the Henry Hudson Parkway on April 2, 2025. Photo provided "Those two cops played judge, jury and executioner" Francisco Andres Guzman Parra, 31, died in the crash. His family couldn't hold back the tears as they watched the video for the first time. "They could've helped get him out, get him assistance," stepmother Carmen Colon said. "When we see that video, we're seeing a crime being committed." "It's enraging, honestly. In that one moment, those two cops played judge, jury and executioner. They all of a sudden determined when and how this guy would survive or not survive," family attorney Jeremy Feigenbaum said. The attorney says emergency crews didn't arrive until 20 minutes after the crash. "To think he was in that car suffering for that long. One minute's too long. Imagine more than 15 minutes," sister Shakira Guzman said. "His body was completely burned to a degree where we had to use dental records to be able to identify him," Colon said. Guzman Parra's family says he came to the United States from the Dominican Republic at the age of 5 and was undocumented. They believe he was likely fleeing the police that night in fear of being deported. Police say Guzman Parra was speeding and the vehicle he was driving was stolen. "If he was doing something wrong, get him help, get him to the hospital, cuffed to the bed, and process him," Colon said. "But you don't leave him there to die. Not only to die, but to burn." The NYPD says the two officers are suspended with pay. The force investigation division continues to investigate.
New York Times
12-04-2025
- New York Times
After Police Chase and Fiery Crash, an Agonizing Wait to Learn the Worst
Carmen Colon felt a sense of dread when her stepson did not respond to her texts. Several days earlier, on April 2, a man in a stolen 2025 Honda CRV had been killed when the car smashed into a building and caught fire in the Inwood section of Manhattan. Two officers who were chasing the car when it crashed were suspended amid a police investigation into their actions. The driver, burned beyond recognition, was not identified in the immediate aftermath. The lack of replies to her texts and rumors that she had begun to hear made Ms. Colon, who lives north of New York City in Orange County, N.Y., fear that the driver was her stepson, Francisco Andres Guzman Parra, 31.
