A Long Island man was arrested Tuesday — more than a year after a Feb. 8, 2025 Queens crash that led to the death of a 27-year-old woman whose body was ejected onto the Belt Parkway, cops said.
Kenyatta Junior Weston, 31, was charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving while ability impaired, reckless driving and multiple speeding violations, according to law enforcement officials.
Weston pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Queens Supreme Criminal Court Tuesday morning, where Judge Michael Hartofilis ordered him held without bail.
Cops said Weston was speeding eastbound on the Belt Parkway when he struck a row of sand barrels near 233rd St. in Laurelton around 3:47 a.m., cops said.
Also in the vehicle was Elizabeth Vanessa Perla Hernandez, another Long Island resident, who was thrown from the vehicle in the crash.
“She was a very enthusiastic person. Happy, outgoing. She was going back to college. She was already on the waiting list to be a correction officer,” the victim’s aunt, 39-year-old Sulyema Hernandez, told the Daily News.
Medics rushed Hernandez to Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, where she died.
Weston, who was also ejected from the Toyota during the crash, was taken to North Shore University Hospital in critical condition, cops said.
Police recovered a firearm from the wrecked Toyota, cops said.
“He was speeding and he was drunk,” said Sulyema Hernandez. “I just want justice to be served. He needs to pay for his actions.”
The victim’s aunt said her niece was friends with Weston and that the pair had stayed out late after meeting for dinner.
“It’s very hard,” the aunt said. “She was my first niece. We didn’t expect something like this to ever happen. She was so young and bright. She was full of energy.”
The victim was born and raised on Long Island as the eldest of four siblings, including her two brothers and younger sister, her aunt said.
“Her sister is devastated. They were very close to each other,” said the aunt. “You never expect to lose somebody so young.”
Hernandez worked in the collections unit for the Internal Revenue Service, but planned to follow in the footsteps of her aunt —Sulyema’s sister — to become a Suffolk County Corrections Officer.
“She was waiting for the exam to take the physical,” said the aunt. “She had the application and everything.”
After she got the job, the victim planned to buy a house and then begin having children, her aunt said, adding: “She wanted to wait until she was settled.”
