Queens teen sentenced to up to 4 years for fatal crash with 14-year-old girl

A Queens judge sentenced an 18-year-old to up to four years in prison Friday for crashing a car his parents gave him before he had a license, killing his 14-year-old passenger.

The teen was 16 at the time of the crash and only had a learner’s permit, so he was driving illegally, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office.

The defendant, who lives in Springfield Gardens, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault and other charges in May, prosecutors said. Fortune Williams was killed when she was ejected from the car and hit a parked UPS truck.

Queens Supreme Court Judge Michael Yavinsky granted the 18-year-old youthful offender status, and prosecutors did not name him. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

His parents, Sean Smith and Deo Ramnarine, were sentenced on child endangerment charges last year in connection with the crash. They were required to attend 26-week parenting classes as part of their sentences.

“This was a landmark case where both an unlicensed teenage driver and his parents were held responsible for the teenager’s deadly actions,” Katz said in a statement Friday. “With this sentence, the defendant — now 18 — will serve prison time for the tragic and untimely death of Fortune.”

Prosecutors said the crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. on May 17, 2023, on North Conduit Avenue near 160th Street. The teen driver was traveling at more than 100 mph in a 30-mph zone, according to the DA’s office. He lost control of the BMW while trying to change lanes and collided into a parked UPS truck before spinning across the roadway and striking a tractor-trailer, the office said.

The DA’s office said the teen told police at the hospital he had picked Williams, his passenger, up at her home and was taking her to his grandmother’s house. Smith told police the BMW was registered in his name but he had bought it for his son. The teen had been ticketed for driving without a license in November 2022, about six months before the crash.

“I wish they would never have given him that car," Williams’ mother Keisha Francis previously told Gothamist. “I wish they would never think about giving him that car — because if they didn’t give him that car, my daughter would still be here right now.”