Teen driver’s Queens crash killed passenger Fortune Williams
City records place the fatal crash at 6:38 p.m. at North Conduit Avenue and 160th Street, where prosecutors later said a 16-year-old driver going more than 100 mph lost control and Fortune Williams, 14, was ejected and died.
What We Know
On May 17, 2023, a 16-year-old driver in a 2005 BMW was traveling west on North Conduit Avenue in Queens with 14-year-old Fortune Williams in the front passenger seat. City records place the crash at 6:38 p.m. at 160th Street and list one person killed and two injured. Police and prosecutors later said the teen driver was speeding when he lost control, hit a parked UPS truck and then hit a tractor-trailer; Fortune was ejected and died at the scene. The Queens district attorney’s office said the teen had only a learner’s permit and was driving more than 100 mph in a 30-mph zone. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault and other charges and was sentenced to up to four years in prison.
How the crash unfolded
City crash records say the driver of a 2005 BMW sedan was going west on North Conduit Avenue at 6:38 p.m. on May 17, 2023. The record also lists a parked UPS truck and a westbound tractor-trailer among the vehicles involved.
Accounts differed on the first contact. The Daily News, citing police sources, reported a clip involving a white box truck as the BMW driver tried to pass while exiting the highway. The New York Post and Queens prosecutors described the teen driver losing control at high speed, hitting the parked UPS truck and then hitting the tractor-trailer.
Fortune Williams was the passenger who died
The crash record identifies the person killed as a 14-year-old female front-seat passenger. Police and prosecutors identified her as Fortune Williams, and the New York Post reported that responding officers found her in the street with severe head trauma before she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The New York Post reported that a 16-year-old boy was behind the wheel and was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Gothamist later reported, citing the Queens district attorney’s office, that he had only a learner’s permit at the time and was driving illegally.
The records and reports identify three vehicles
City records list the BMW as a 2005 sedan with two occupants and record driver inexperience and unsafe speed for the sedan. The same record lists the UPS truck as parked and the tractor-trailer as traveling west.
Police and prosecutors said the teen driver hit the rear-left area of the parked UPS truck and then hit the side of a tractor-trailer. The New York Post reported that the impact knocked the UPS driver to the ground as he tried to get inside.
The crash happened on North Conduit Avenue in Springfield Gardens
The crash was recorded at North Conduit Avenue and 160th Street in Queens, in the 11434 ZIP code. Police and prosecutors described the location as Springfield Gardens.
Gothamist reported that prosecutors said the driver was traveling more than 100 mph in a 30-mph zone on North Conduit Avenue near 160th Street.
Prosecutors focused on speed and illegal driving
The city crash record cites driver inexperience as a contributing factor and lists unsafe speed for the BMW driver. The Queens district attorney’s office later said the teen driver had only a learner’s permit, had previously been ticketed for driving without a license and was traveling more than 100 mph before the crash.
Gothamist reported that the teen driver pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault and other charges in May 2025. A Queens judge granted him youthful offender status and sentenced him in August 2025 to up to four years in prison.
The case also reached the driver’s parents
Gothamist reported that the teen’s parents, Sean Smith and Deo Ramnarine, were sentenced on child endangerment charges in connection with the crash and were required to attend 26-week parenting classes. Prosecutors said Smith told police the BMW was registered in his name and that he had bought it for his son.
Fortune Williams’ mother, Keisha Francis, told Gothamist that she wished the parents had never given him the car, saying her daughter would still be here if they had not.