ARDEN HEIGHTS — A drunken drag race on a Staten Island highway ended when two cars crashed into each other, killing a passenger, police and reports said.
Police arrested two people.
Jermaine Simmons, 38, of Sheepshead Bay, was racing his 2010 Dodge Charger against Hernan Zhagui, 49, of Jackson Heights, on the West Shore Expressway early Sunday morning when he crashed into Zhagui's 2005 Honda SUV, according to police and the New York Daily News.
Zhagui's car then hit a 2013 Ford van near the Arden Avenue exit and crashed into a guardrail on the center median, the NYPD said.
The Dodge hit an overhead light after the crash then overturned on a grassy embankment on the side of the highway, police said.
Dennis White, 39, of Crown Heights, who was in the front passenger seat of the Dodge, was found unconscious with head trauma by EMS. He was taken to Richmond University Medical Center where he died, police said.
Simmons and another two passengers who were in the back of his car were taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Zhagui and his two passengers were also taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition.
The driver of the Ford van was not injured in the crash, police said.
Simmons and Zhagui were arrested and charged with drunken driving, the NYPD said. Simmons was also charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, police said.
