Parents sentenced for role in unlicensed son's crash that killed teen passenger in Queens
NEW YORK - The parents of a now-17-year-old boy accused of killing a 14-year-old girl in a high-speed crash in Queens last year have pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a child.
Authorities say that Sean Smith, 40, and Deo Ramnarine, 43, were sentenced Monday for giving their 16-year-old son a BMW when he was not legally allowed to drive it anywhere in New York City.
Smith was given three years probation, while Ramnarine was ordered to take a 26-week parenting class and to attend the Victim Impact Panel Program.
According to police, in May 2023, the boy, who was 16 at the time, was allegedly driving a red 2005 BMW 325i west on North Conduit Avenue near 160th Street at 101 mph when he lost control of his car and crashed into the back of a parked UPS truck.
3 killed, 8 injured after alleged drunk driver plows into crowd at NYC park
Three people were killed in NYC after an alleged drunk driver plowed his vehicle into a crowd inside Corlears Hook Park in Lower Manhattan, striking 11 people right in the middle of 4th of July celebrations, the NYPD said.
The crash caused the BMW to then spin across the roadway and hit a tractor-trailer that was heading west.
The crash took the life of 14-year-old Fortune Williams.
The driver of the car was charged with manslaughter, reckless driving, and other crimes. At the time, he had a junior driver's license, which prohibited him from driving under any circumstances in the city.
"With this conviction, we have shown that the culpability in a fatal crash can go beyond the driver. Parents who provide vehicles to their children and let them drive illegally can be held responsible in the case of tragedies such as this one," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement.
Parents being held criminally accountable for their children's actions has become a growing consideration for some prosecutors.
In April, the parents of a Michigan teen were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not doing more to stop their son from going on a deadly shooting rampage in 2021.