Teen Moped Operator and Passenger Killed on Cross Island Parkway
A 15-year-old unlicensed moped operator, identified in news reports as Andy Rodriguez, and 19-year-old passenger Giselle Flores died after police said Rodriguez failed to navigate the southbound Cross Island Parkway near 150th Street around 2 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2024.
What We Know
Andy Rodriguez, 15, was operating a moped south on the Cross Island Parkway near 150th Street around 2 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2024, with 19-year-old Giselle Flores as a passenger. The city crash record lists two people on the moped and says both motorists were killed. Police told reporters Rodriguez failed to navigate the roadway and hit a wall; Flores was pronounced dead at the scene, and Rodriguez was taken to Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where he died. A later account from Flores's twin sister said she was told Rodriguez first hit a car before the pair ended up at the wall, while the city record provided for the crash lists one involved vehicle.
What happened on the parkway
The city crash record places the crash at 1:58 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2024, on the Cross Island Parkway at 150th Street and lists a southbound moped with two occupants. The record says both occupants were killed.
Police told the New York Post that the 15-year-old moped operator failed to navigate the roadway and hit a wall. The Daily News, citing police, reported that Andy Rodriguez lost control and hit a barrier wall on the southbound parkway near the 150th Street overpass.
Where the crash happened
The crash was reported on the southbound Cross Island Parkway near 150th Street in Queens. The Daily News described the location as near the 150th Street overpass.
The two people who died
News reports identified the operator as Andy Rodriguez, 15, and the passenger as Giselle Flores, 19. The city crash record lists the 15-year-old as the driver and the 19-year-old as a rear passenger.
Authorities said Flores was pronounced dead at the scene. Rodriguez was taken to Flushing Hospital Medical Center by private means, and the Daily News reported that a friend rushed him there with extensive injuries before he died.
Giselle Flores's family account
Sharick Flores, Giselle's fraternal twin, told the Daily News and the New York Post that Giselle had expected to get home and see her later that morning. She said the sisters had talked about going to college and studying medicine-related fields.
Accounts of the impact differ on a key point
Police accounts published by the New York Post and Daily News say Rodriguez lost control and hit a wall or barrier wall. The city crash record provided for this death lists one involved vehicle, a 2023 Taizhou moped.
In a later New York Post story, Sharick Flores said she was told Rodriguez lost control, hit a car and then the pair ended up at the highway wall. That detail does not appear in the city crash record provided for this case.
Investigation and aftermath
The New York Post reported on the day of the crash that there had been no arrests and that police were still investigating who took Rodriguez to the hospital and whether that person could have helped Flores. The later Post story said officers from NYPD Highway 1 investigated.
Sharick Flores told the Post that the family was raising money for funeral costs and that their mother was devastated.