QUEENS — A 39-year-old motorist has been arrested after the SUV he was driving slammed into a median along the Long Island Expressway early Wednesday morning, killing one of the passengers in the vehicle, according to the NYPD.
The driver, Ricardo Rivas, was behind the wheel of a 2003 Ford Explorer heading east on the expressway about 4 a.m. when it plowed into a median just past the 108th Street exit, which borders Forest Hills and Corona, officials said.
The front seat passenger, Carlos Rivas, 27, was taken to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead. Three other passengers in the back seat were taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where they were listed in stable condition, police said.
Ricardo Rivas, was taken into custody and later charged with driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide, police said.
The relationship between Carlos Rivas and Ricardo Rivas was not immediately known, police said.