Driver sentenced for fatal Crown Heights red-light crash
In the fatal crash at Nostrand Avenue and Crown Street that city data records at 6:34 p.m., prosecutors said Elijah Lucaine ran a red light at 70 mph and hit the Acura driven by David Ellis, who later died.
What We Know
On March 13, 2023, a fatal crash was recorded at Nostrand Avenue and Crown Street in Brooklyn. Police and prosecutors said Elijah Lucaine had fled a traffic stop, ran red lights and hit the Acura driven by 56-year-old David Ellis. A later prosecution account said Lucaine was traveling 70 mph in a 25 mph zone at the intersection. Ellis was taken to Kings County Hospital and died days later. Lucaine pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced in July 2024 to three to nine years in prison. Reports differ on the exact time, with city data and 2023 press accounts placing the crash around 6:30 p.m. and a 2024 sentencing report listing 4:45 p.m.
Where the crash happened
The official crash record places the crash at Nostrand Avenue and Crown Street in Brooklyn. Press reports described the intersection as being in Crown Heights.
The official record lists 6:34 p.m. as the crash time. The first Brooklyn Paper report and the Daily News placed the police stop or crash around 6:30 to 6:34 p.m., while a later sentencing report citing prosecutors listed 4:45 p.m.
Police and prosecutors described a red-light crash after a stop attempt
Police said officers tried to pull over Elijah Lucaine near Eastern Parkway and Bergen Street before the crash. The 2023 Brooklyn Paper report said Lucaine fled instead of complying, and the 2024 sentencing report, citing the district attorney’s office, said police had observed him running red lights, speeding and swerving in and out of oncoming traffic.
At Crown Street and Nostrand Avenue, prosecutors said Lucaine ran a red light at 70 mph in a 25 mph zone and hit a black Acura driven by David Ellis. The official record lists traffic control disregarded as a crash factor, and vehicle records identify the moving vehicles as an Acura SUV traveling south and an Infiniti sedan traveling west.
Authorities said the crash also involved an unattended 2008 BMW X5 and an unattended 2011 Mercedes-Benz van parked at the location.
David Ellis died after being taken to the hospital
The sentencing report said Ellis died five days later from blunt force trauma. Earlier coverage described a shorter interval, including reports that he died two or four days later, and one early report said he suffered a medical episode while hospitalized.
Reports differed on whether police were in pursuit
Reviewed coverage agrees that police attempted a traffic stop before the crash. The Daily News described the case as involving a police pursuit and said officers had given up their pursuit when they encountered the aftermath. Brooklyn Paper reported that surveillance footage showed an NYPD cruiser entering the frame moments after the crash, but said an NYPD spokesperson claimed officers were not in pursuit at the time.
Manslaughter case ended with a prison sentence
Police initially charged Lucaine with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, operating a vehicle without insurance, a number plate violation and failure to obey traffic signals. After Ellis died, prosecutors charged Lucaine with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other offenses.
Lucaine pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on May 15, 2024. On July 2, 2024, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joanne Quinones sentenced him to three to nine years in prison.