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Auxiliary Police Officer Among 2 Killed in Horrific Crash

By Aidan Gardiner | September 19, 2014 10:13am
 D'John Arias, an auxiliary police officer with the 110th Precinct, was killed in a crash in Laurelton on Sept. 18, 2014.
D'John Arias, an auxiliary police officer with the 110th Precinct, was killed in a crash in Laurelton on Sept. 18, 2014.
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QUEENS — Two men — including an auxiliary police officer who dreamed of being a lawyer — were killed and a 14-year-old boy was injured when their speeding car careened into a tree in Laurelton Thursday night, police said.

The officer, D'John Arias, 20, was speeding west along North Conduit Avenue in a Mitsubishi Lancer about 10:45 p.m. when he tried to swerve around another vehicle to get onto the Belt Parkway near 181st Street.

But he lost control and flew off the road, hitting a light pole and slamming into a tree, according to the NYPD.

Family members said he had been working for three years at the Parson Boulevard YMCA as a lifeguard and was dropping off a co-worker when the accident happened.

Arias was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 19-year-old front passenger, Karim Carter, of Jamaica, was taken to Jamaica Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.

A teenager who was with them suffered injuries to his legs and was taken to North Shore-LIJ where he was listed in stable condition, according to the NYPD.

Arias' distraught mother, Maria, said he was studying criminal justice at Queensboro Community College and had been an auxiliary officer for the past three months and wanted to be a criminal lawyer like his brother.

"He was lovely, calm, relaxed," said his aunt Maria Sanabria, 49. "He had really good manners."

"Every time he put on his uniform he would show off. He was very proud."