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Driver Charged After Passenger Dies in Midtown Hydrant Crash, NYPD Says

By  William Mathis and Aidan Gardiner | May 31, 2016 9:32am | Updated on May 31, 2016 3:16pm

 The car hopped the curb on Sixth Avenue near West 53rd Street, police said.
The car hopped the curb on Sixth Avenue near West 53rd Street, police said.
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DNAinfo/William Mathis

MIDTOWN — The driver in a fatal crash early Tuesday morning has been charged for the death of his passenger after the car they were in careened into a Midtown fire hydrant, police said.

The passenger and driver, both men in their 30s, were heading north on Sixth Avenue when the driver lost control of the car, hopped a curb between West 53rd and 54th streets about 3:30 a.m. and hit the hydrant on the driver's side of the car, an NYPD spokesman said.

"I see the car speeding like crazy. The car went flying by us. Then I hear a boom," said Xena Efthimiou, 56, who was setting up her coffee cart with her son when the car crashed.

"[The driver's] legs were in the car and the rest of his body was in the street. I saw no blood. He was unconscious," Efthimiou said.

The passenger, Juan Avila of Jackson Heights, was taken to St. Luke's/ Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The driver, Shiva Sharma of Wyandanch, Long Island, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, according to the NYPD.

Sharma was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, according to authorities.

Efthimiou was left reeling after the gruesome scene.

"I'm shaken. I'm shaking like crazy. The whole morning, I've been shaking," the coffee vendor said.