{"id":170719,"date":"2026-03-21T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/170719\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T16:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:29:09","slug":"out-of-control-driver-had-taken-pcp-smoked-weed-before-fatal-harlem-crash-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/170719\/","title":{"rendered":"Out-of-control driver had taken PCP, smoked weed before fatal Harlem crash: prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 49-year-old speedster who killed one man and wounded four others<\/a> in a wild Harlem crash had smoked marijuana and taken PCP before getting behind the wheel, prosecutors said Saturday.<\/p>\n

Kevin Crosby was speeding down a bus only lane on W. 125th St. and Frederick Douglas Blvd. at about 8 p.m. Thursday when he hit two e-bike delivery workers<\/a>, sending them \u201churtling through the air,\u201d according to prosecutors and court documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is on video driving at an extremely high rate of speed, as compared to other vehicles, straight into a person on a bike,\u201d Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Emily Hong said at Crosby\u2019s arraignment late Friday. \u201cHe clearly also strikes another cyclist with his vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth cyclists fly in the air and land a significant distance away,\u201d Hong said.<\/p>\n

Crosby\u2019s out-of-control red Hyundai Tucson with South Carolina plates also hit two other cars and a police cruiser during the wild ride. Crosby finally came to a stop after slamming into and wedging his SUV under an 18-wheeler truck parked nearby.<\/p>\n

The Hyundai sent off sparks as it charged down W. 125th St. moments after striking the two cyclists. One of his victims was thrown into the air as he passed, the video shows.<\/p>\n

Startled shoppers were knocked off their feet as Crosby blew by them.<\/p>\n

\"Pedestrians<\/p>\n

Obtained by Daily News<\/p>\n

Pedestrians jump for cover as an out of control car speeds down 125th St. near Frederick Douglas Blvd. on Thursday night. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201c(Crosby was) still driving at a high rate of speed, now in the bus only lane, and now with what appeared to be a person on the hood of the red SUV,\u201d prosecutors noted in the criminal complaint. \u201cAt that same time, I also observed the red SUV strike a bicyclist. I then observed the person on the hood of the vehicle and the bicyclist hurtling through the air and landing on the road approximately two car lengths away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Struck e-bike rider Darly Zacharias, 28, was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where he died from his injuries. The second e-biker, 37, was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.<\/p>\n

Three other victims, a 40-year-old in a parked Toyota RAV4 and two men, ages 28 and 23, in a parked Lexus, were rushed to Harlem Hospital with minor injuries. The Tucson hit both vehicles before slamming into the police cruiser and the tractor-trailer, cops said.<\/p>\n

The fatal crash took place a block away from Harlem\u2019s famed Apollo Theater<\/a>. Shoppers on the bustling block watched in horror as the red Hyundai careened out of control and almost landed on the sidewalk, where it would have crushed dozens of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was coming on us on the sidewalk, and then another car that was parked between us and him blocked him,\u201d a manager of a beauty supply store on 125th St. told the Daily News Friday. The woman declined to give her name. \u201cHe was speeding in a movie. Like flying!<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night none of us slept,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I went home I cried so much. I said, \u2018It could have been me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Crosby is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, March 20, 2026, on charges of manslaughter and driving while impaired after driving his car into several people in Harlem. (Daniel McKnight \/ Lone Pine Press \/ POOL)<\/p>\n

Crosby wasn\u2019t seriously hurt in the crash and was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter and driving while impaired by drugs.<\/p>\n

He was clearly intoxicated when cops pulled the Bronx resident out of the mangled Hyundai, court papers note.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant had pinpoint pupils, slurred speech, was swaying on his feet, and had an odor of what he believed to be PCP or K2 on his breath,\u201d prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Crosby later admitted that he had smoked PCP that morning, then smoked marijuana before driving, Hong said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors added that Crosby has an extensive criminal history with 21 arrests stretching back to the 1990s. Over the last three decades, he\u2019s been arrested for gunpoint robbery, drug possession, assault, criminal trespass and in 2007 he was arrested for operating a motor vehicle without a license, officials said.<\/p>\n

In 2022 Crosby was convicted of reckless driving and reckless endangerment for colliding with a parked Toyota and a coffee truck in the Bronx. The truck was knocked onto the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

Three people were hurt in that crash, officials said. Crosby ultimately pleaded guilty and was given probation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

A bicyclist was killed and four others were injured in a crash on W. 125th St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

His defense attorney Seann Riley said Crosby\u2019s apparent intoxication \u201cdoesn\u2019t tell the full story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car had mechanical issues and the brakes and the steering wheel were jammed,\u201d Riley told Judge Jeffrey Gershuny as he asked for a suitable bail.<\/p>\n

Gershuny ordered Crosby held without bail until his next court appearance. The judge also had Crosby\u2019s license to drive suspended.<\/p>\n

Zacharias was the fifth cyclist killed on New York City streets and the 34th New Yorker killed in a traffic crash so far this year, according to the bicyclist advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re horrified to learn that a single driver was able to speed through one of the busiest corridors in Harlem, striking multiple people in a matter of seconds and killing one while injuring four others. We refuse to live in a New York City where this is normal,\u201d Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Ben Furnas said in a statement. \u201cSpeeding is a scourge on our city. It terrorizes our neighborhoods, terrifies our children and parents, kills our neighbors every week, and makes our beautiful streets into miserable places to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

A bicyclist was killed and four others were injured in a crash on W. 125th St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s fatal crash \u201cwas not an anomaly but a constant recurrence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drivers may change, but the threat to New Yorkers remains the same,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to be better protected from speeding drivers, and the City of New York needs more tools to protect us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 49-year-old speedster who killed one man and wounded four others in a wild Harlem crash had smoked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-170719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}