West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue · Friday night, May 15, 2026
A 61-year-old driver has been indicted in Manhattan after police say his Mercedes SUV set off a chain-reaction crash on the Upper West Side and struck people on the sidewalk, killing two men and injuring three others.
What police say happened
According to ABC7 and Gothamist, Elvin Suarez was driving a Mercedes SUV at West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on the night of Friday, May 15, 2026, when it struck a parked car and set off a chain-reaction collision with several other vehicles before hitting pedestrians on the sidewalk. Video from the scene showed bystanders trying to lift the SUV off a man pinned underneath. Jason Negron, 46, and Michael Saint-Hilaire, 35, were killed. Three other pedestrians were taken to Mount Sinai Morningside in stable condition.
The charges
Mr. Suarez was charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, and driving while intoxicated, and the Manhattan District Attorney later announced a felony indictment.
What this case shows
Crashes like this one are often described as a driver "losing control," and that phrase hides the central legal question. Vehicular manslaughter requires proof that the driver was intoxicated or impaired and that the impairment caused the deaths. Manslaughter in the second degree requires proof of recklessness: that the driver was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk. A medical event, a mechanical failure, or another driver's conduct can each break those links, and they are among the first things a Manhattan DWI attorney investigates in a crash case, alongside the chemical test and the vehicle's data recorder.
Where the case stands
We found no public report of a plea or verdict as of September 2026. Mr. Suarez is presumed innocent.
Related: felony DWI · consequences of a DWI
This article is drawn from public court filings, official releases and news reports, and is provided for general information only. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt. Every person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. Nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case, and nothing here is legal advice.