NEW YORK, New York — It was a Friday evening rush hour on one of the Upper West Side’s most traveled corridors. Families were heading home. People were walking to dinner. Students from nearby Columbia University filled the sidewalks.
Then, in a matter of seconds, everything changed.
Around 6 p.m., a suspected drunk driver barreled down Amsterdam Avenue and turned a busy intersection near West 109th Street into a scene of chaos, leaving two men dead and a shaken neighborhood searching for answers.
How the Crash Unfolded
According to the New York Police Department, Elvin Suarez, 61, was driving a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 SUV northbound on Amsterdam Avenue when he first struck a parked Volkswagen Jetta south of the intersection.
He did not stop.
The vehicle continued forward, jumped a pedestrian island, and struck four people who were on foot. The SUV then blew through the intersection and slammed into a parked Chevrolet Astro van that had a 51-year-old man inside.
The force of that impact pushed the van into a line of parked vehicles — a Honda CR-V, Toyota Sienna, Toyota 4Runner, and Nissan Altima — creating a chain-reaction collision that left wreckage stretched across the block.
Two Men Lost Their Lives
Emergency responders rushed Suarez, the van occupant, and all four pedestrians to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital.
Two of those pedestrians did not survive.
Jason Negron, 46, and Michael Saint-Hilaire, 35 — both Manhattan residents — were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Suarez, the man in the van, and two other pedestrians aged 44 and 36 were listed in stable condition.
Charges Filed Against the Driver
Police arrested Suarez at the scene. He now faces serious criminal charges including two counts of manslaughter, three counts of vehicular manslaughter, two counts of vehicular assault, and driving while intoxicated.
Authorities have not confirmed whether speed was also considered a factor in the crash, and have not said whether Suarez has retained legal representation.
A Neighborhood Left Reeling
Amsterdam Avenue near West 109th Street is not a quiet back road. It runs through a dense residential neighborhood, lined with apartment buildings, restaurants, and local businesses — the kind of block where people walk at all hours.
The NYPD shut down part of the avenue Friday evening while investigators from the Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad examined the scene and crews worked to clear the damaged vehicles.
The investigation remains ongoing.
For the people who live and walk these streets every day, Friday night was a sobering reminder of how quickly an ordinary evening can turn to tragedy — and how much damage one impaired driver can cause.
Have you or someone you know been affected by drunk driving in your neighborhood? Share your thoughts in the comments — this conversation matters.
