Driver Hits Floyd Bennett Field Building, Killing Passenger
A 33-year-old woman being given a driving lesson drove a 2022 Toyota RAV4 into a Floyd Bennett Field building on April 8, killing 76-year-old back-seat passenger Pearle Davis and injuring two others.
What We Know
Pearle Davis, 76, died after a 33-year-old woman driving a 2022 Toyota RAV4 hit a building at Floyd Bennett Field near 5051 Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn around 6:11 p.m. on April 8, 2026. The Daily News reported that the driver was being given a driving lesson and lost control; the city crash record lists driver inexperience as a contributing factor and records three occupants in the SUV. Davis was riding in the right rear seat. Police and relatives told the Daily News that Davis, the driver and a front-seat passenger were taken to Brookdale University Hospital, where Davis died.
A driving lesson ended at a hangar wall
The city crash record places the crash at 6:11 p.m. on April 8, 2026, near 5051 Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn and records one person killed and two motorists injured. The Daily News reported that a 33-year-old woman was being given a driving lesson when she lost control while driving a 2022 Toyota RAV4.
Reports placed the movement inside Floyd Bennett Field. News12 described the site as a parking area, while the Daily News reported that the driver veered off the roadway and hit the side of a hangar now used as a warehouse.
Pearle Davis died after riding in the back seat
The official record identifies the person killed as a 76-year-old female passenger seated in the right rear of the SUV. Police identified her to News12 as Pearle Davis of Bushwick.
Kameeka Pope, identified by the Daily News as Davis’s granddaughter, said Davis was a retired widow, a great-grandmother and a longtime Verizon worker. Pope told the paper, "My grandma should be remembered as always the life of the party. She loved to dance. She also loved amusement parks and any adventure."
Police and relatives told the Daily News that responders took Davis, the driver and the front-seat passenger to Brookdale University Hospital. Davis died there; the Daily News reported Thursday that the driver remained unconscious, and police said the front-seat passenger was in stable condition.
Investigators cited driver inexperience
The city crash record lists driver inexperience as a contributing factor and describes the driver as an unlicensed female driver traveling south and going straight ahead before the crash. The Daily News, citing ABC 7, reported that the motorist was being given a driving lesson.
News12 reported that officials were still working to determine why the driver lost control, while the official record had already listed driver inexperience as the contributing factor.
Floyd Bennett Field sits on a dangerous Flatbush Avenue corridor
The crash was recorded near 5051 Flatbush Ave at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. The Daily News described Floyd Bennett Field as the city’s first municipal airport, now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area with sports fields, parkland and a recreation center.
CrashCountNYC’s Flatbush Avenue corridor data show 2,981 crashes, 1,956 injuries, 125 serious injuries and 10 deaths from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.