Three people were killed in a fiery wreck Sunday when the SUV they were riding in smashed into a tree and burst into flames near Bethpage State Park on Long Island, authorities said.
The 2022 Dodge Durango was traveling east on Stymus Avenue in Bethpage when it hit the tree with a resounding crash at about 1 a.m., the Nassau County Police Department told News 12 Long Island.
The Bethpage Fire Department rushed to the scene and quelled the flames, ABC News reported.
Nearby resident Angela Signoriello witnessed the aftermath.
“I ran, and all you could see is that car totaled, and it was just destroyed,” Signoriello told News 12.
Neighbor Kazi Ahmed ran outside after hearing a bang and tried to open the vehicle’s rear door, but it was locked, he told Newsday. Initially the fire was small, and he ran back across the street to fetch a baseball bat to break the window, he said. When he returned, the car was fully engulfed. Ring camera footage obtained by Newsday showed him running back and forth.
The crash shut down a stretch of Plainview Road on Sunday morning as police rerouted traffic while they investigated and towed the charred vehicle as neighbors watched from their lawns, according to Newsday.
Later in the morning, people who said they were friends of the victims came by the scene, News 12 and Newsday reported. Police did not publicly identify the three, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
Other neighbors said the stretch of road, which Newsday noted runs alongside the Yellow Golf Course at Bethpage State Park, is known to be dangerous.
“It’s a blind turn,” Bethpage resident Chris Theo told News 12.
Moreover, the road is known as a high-speed shortcut between Bethpage State Parkway and Route 135, Newsday noted. Ahmed told the newspaper that for years he has been calling for speed bumps to be installed near where the crash occurred.
