WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- An 18-year-old driver was charged with manslaughter, DWI and other crimes after he allegedly slammed into a car and killed a 6-year-old girl while speeding down a Long Island highway Monday—a crash that came just hours after two kids and their father were killed by a speeding driver just miles away.
Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez, of Freeport, was driving a 2005 Nissan SUV "at a high rate of speed" eastbound on the Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead around 2:20 a.m. when he crashed into a parked 2009 Toyota Corolla near Westminster Road, according to Nassau County police.
At the time of the crash, people were in the Toyota and two people were standing next to the vehicle.
They were all rushed to area hospitals with various injuries, but a 6-year-old girl who'd been in a passenger seat died from her injuries.
She was identified as Katerine Vanegas-Hernandez, of West Hempstead.
In addition to the second-degree manslaughter and DWI charges, Gutierrez faces charges of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault and three counts of third-degree assault.
The crash came just hours after a father and his two children were killed after their SUV was hit by a speeding driver on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa in a four-vehicle crash Sunday evening.
Patrice Huntley, 60, was taking his 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter to get ice cream to celebrate his new job when a 32-year-old man in a Hyundai Kona hit their Hyundai Santa Fe, according to Nassau police. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
In total, five other people were injured, including Huntley's 6-year-old granddaughter and an 18-year-old man in the Santa Fe, who both suffered critical injuries.
Police haven't identified the driver of the Kona or said what charges he could face.
The crash was so intense that the Kona flipped into the air and landed on a vehicle in the opposite lanes.
"You're killing families," Nassau Det. Cap. Stephen Fitzpatrick said of dangerous drivers at a news conference. "There are five kids that are potentially going to die."
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