Guyanese-American teens involved in NY car crash had a bright future ahead

– Relatives, friends still in shock

Four teenagers of Guyanese parentage were killed in a horrific crash in Queens, New York, on Monday. The car which was being driven at the time by a 17-year-old Guyanese-American was sliced in half when it crashed into a tree, killing the teens instantly.
The driver miraculously survived the incident and is said to be fully conscious. Eyewitnesses and police officials described the accident as horrific. The victims: Neal Rajapa, 17; Peter Anthony, 18; Darian Ramnarine 19; and Christopher Khan, 18 were all from the greater Richmond Hill area.
The accident occurred on the Southern State Parkway in the town of Malverne, near the border of Nassau County and Queens. The car was heading westbound towards Queens on the Southern State at 03: 40h at Exit 17.
It is a very sharp accident prone turn. The sole survivor of the crash was the driver of the car, Joseph Beer, 17. Beer, whose parents are reported to be Guyanese, possessed only a learner’s permit when he took his brand new 2012 Subaru Impreza out for a drive. Their parents did not know when they left their homes for the ride, which turned out to be their last one.
The tragic case has family, friends and neighbours, of all five of the boys, in massive shock, and all were described as serious, studious young men with a bright future.
Beer is said to have received the vehicle as a gift from his parents for enrolling at St John’s University, and teachers described him as a serious and dedicated student, who is unlikely to get into trouble.
Beer is expected to pull through his injuries and survive, and investigators are attempting to put together what happened in the moments leading up to the collision, which sliced the car in half, and killed the four young men.
An eyewitness told investigators he saw someone emerging from the accident and using his cellphone to provide light to navigate his way through the area.
The police said Beer “failed to negotiate a curve and lost control” on a rainslicked curve, and in the process wiped four lives.
“The vehicle exited the roadway across the two right lanes on to the shoulder where it struck several trees,” state police said.
Beer was taken to the Winthrop Hospital when police and fire officials arrived at the scene. All four of Beer’s passengers were pronounced dead, at the scene. At 17, and with only a learner’s permit, it appears that Beer would have been barred from driving without a licence, as he was below the legal age of 21.
Debris strewn around the accident scene included an iPad case, school textbooks, sneakers, cellphones and two backpacks.
Lakeview Fire Chief Heather Senti said the site is so frequently the scene of horrific accidents, calling it the “Dead Man’s Curve”. That area of roadway is a triple threat to motorists, who face an incline, a curve and a blind spot.
“This is a notorious area for car crashes,” Senti said. “If I had to guess from the wreckage, they were going quite fast.”
Neighbours who heard the bang, rushed out to help, but it was too late. “They were all on the highway scattered. There were like three bodies scattered like five feet from each other,” said Michael Campo, who lives in the neighbourhood where the accident occurred.
“We actually found one young man wandering around the accident site. He didn’t seem like he had a scratch on him. I don’t know how he made it out of the car like that. He was a little disoriented and we asked him if he knew anyone else was in there, and he said he thought so,” another resident Pasquale Loungo said.
Amy Buchanan, a school principal, who lives near the scene of the accident, said the noise from the crash awoke her from her sleep. She was dreadful of the phone calls the authorities made to the families of the victims.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. I’d say it is one of the top three crashes over the last 60 years,” the principal said.
“They were nice kids you know; loved their families, their friends, I just can’t believe they’re gone you know,” said Kevin Persaud, a friend of one of the deceased said.
“I just have chills running through my body, I can’t believe it happened,” Persaud said, adding that no words can make the pain go away.
The investigation into the crash is continuing.