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Drunk, Unlicensed Driver Killed Passenger in Harlem River Drive Crash: DA

 One person was killed in a crash on the Harlem River Drive on May 24, 2015.
One person was killed in a crash on the Harlem River Drive on May 24, 2015.
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Mike Rodriguez / BMR

HARLEM — A drunken, unlicensed driver trying to make it home to New Jersey early Sunday morning lost control of her car and crashed, killing her backseat passenger, according to police and prosecutors.

Shanelle Emanuel, 24, of Bayonne, NJ, was behind the wheel of a 2001 Dodge sedan heading north on Harlem River Drive when she tried to take the exit for the Triborough Bridge and lost control of the car, striking a tree in the median shortly before 6 a.m., according to the NYPD.

The passenger, 24-year-old Kiara Jenkins of Jersey City, was rushed to Harlem Hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to police.

Police said Emanuel, who did not have a driver's license, was unsteady on her feet, slurring her speech and smelled of alcohol, according to a criminal complaint. She was given a breathalyzer test and blew a .10, the complaint said.

She was arrested on charges of drunken driving and driving without a license, according to police, and was arraigned on Sunday on additional charges of vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, the criminal complaint said.

Emanuel was ordered held on $100,000 bail is due back in court on Friday, court records show. Her attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.