THE BRONX — Two people were killed early Saturday morning after an out of control SUV flipped and slammed into a livery cab, causing a three car pile-up early Saturday morning, officials said.
Police and EMS responded to the scene on Hutchison River Parkway at around 7:10 a.m. on Saturday to find the bodies of driver Ata Noorzi, 51, of Queens, and Patrick Sheehan, 54, a passenger from Westchester County, as well as wreckage from the crash strewn across the north and southbound lanes, police said and eyewitnesses told the NY Daily News. The driver that caused the crash survived, police said.
Both men were fathers: Noorzi, an Afghani immigrant in Kew Gardens Hills, left behind two sons and two daughters, and Sheehan, a Wells Fargo banker and the first Georgetown University student to don the bulldog mascot costume, left behind three sons in Larchmont, N.Y., the News reported.
A black SUV traveling northbound on the Hutchison River Parkway had just exited an overpass tunnel near Orchard Beach Road when the driver, who has not been identified, appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, police said.
The SUV skidded across three lanes before slamming into the traffic median, causing the vehicle to catapult over the center barrier into the southbound lanes.
Noorzi, driving his black livery cab, was unable to get out of the way in time, and the SUV slammed into the cab's roof, police said. The impact tore the roof off the cab and killed both the driver and Sheehan, his passenger. Rescuers declared both dead at the scene, police said.
One victim was decapitated by the impact, and neither victim has been identified pending family notification, police said. Police did not yet know if criminality was involved.
The black SUV then careened into a white SUV headed southbound, causing the black SUV to slam into the overpass before finally coming to a rest on its roof. The white SUV hit the wall of the overpass before coming to a rest.
Another victim of the crash was taken to Jacobi Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The female driver and passenger of the white SUV were rushed to Jacobi as well, but officials said they had minor injuries only. The victims' identities have yet to be released.
Police said on Saturday afternoon that an investigation was ongoing into the exact details of the incident.
