Driver Charged After Woman Killed In Fiery Single-Car Crash On Harlem River Drive
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A fiery single-car crash Sunday morning on the northbound Harlem River Drive left one woman dead and another woman charged with DWI.
Around 5:40 a.m., while trying to take the exit for the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, the driver of a maroon Dodge Sedan lost control and hit a tree in the median, police said. The car then burst into flames, 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis reported
Police confirmed there were three people in the vehicle -- a driver and two passengers.
The female passenger, identified by police as 24-year-old Kiara Jenkins, of Jersey City, was taken to Harlem Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The driver, 24-year-old Shanelle Emanuel, was arrested, Dennis reported. Emanuel, of Bayonne, was charged with unlicensed operation of a vehicle and driving while intoxicated, police said.
A man who was fishing on the river nearby heard the crash.
"It started a fire, and the people get out -- two," he said. "Terrible, yeah. It started smoking, fire."
The wreck closed northbound and southbound lanes of the Harlem River Drive and backed up traffic for hours.