A 13-year-old boy is dead and his 15-year-old friend was arrested on Saturday after the two went joyriding in a stolen SUV and smashed into a row of parked cars in Harlem around 6 p.m.
Police said Dejuan Wynn, a 13-year-old from the Bronx, was driving a Nissan Armada along West 116th Street when police saw the car run a red light and turn onto Morningside Avenue.
The unnamed 15-year-old passenger exited the car while it was moving and shortly after, Wynn crashed into three parked cars. Reports indicate the car turned too fast and it subsequently flipped onto its side.
Cops reported that Wynn fell out of the car and became trapped underneath it.
Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
The 15-year-old was taken to the Mount Sinai Morningside after the crash and was said to be in stable condition. His name can’t be released because of his age.
Police charged him with unauthorized use of a vehicle, criminal possession of the stolen property, and grand larceny of an automobile.
Wynne was a regular at the Dunlevy Milbank Community Center and friends and counselors were in shock following his passing.
Counselor Elijah Brown said he knew Wynne since he was a baby and he knew his family for years. He said he was mad at the way the incident happened and wished it could have ended differently.
He played basketball for the community center’s basketball team, the Milbank Flyers.
The crash came the day before Mayor Bill de Blasio closed schools in New York City due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When he announced the closure, he expressed concern about the consequences of leaving students unsupervised. De Blasio questioned what would happen to young people who didn’t have enough positive options while out of school.
If you or your loved one suffered injuries in a car crash, reach out to a Buffalo car accident lawyer for representation.
