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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Speed Kills

Factor in West Farms Crash Death

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 30- After an initial investigation the NYPD says speed was a key factor in the death of a young man driving along West Farms Road in the Claremont Village section.

Rescue personnel were called to 1759 - 63 West Farms Road, where a 1997 Saturn jumped the curb and struck a light-pole at 2:35 a.m., on July 26. The victim was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died.

Police vehicles would shutdown both directions at E. 174 Street as members of the NYPD Highway Patrol performed their investigation.

An unidentified brother of the victim was watching the officers, now taking photographs of the vehicle, and the debris that now littered the roadway-- blurted out, "I'm just trying to find out what happened."

No doubt bewildered how the vehicle wrapped around the pole in a near circle from the direction he was apparently coming from.

The teen could not say where his brother was coming from or what he had been doing that night. He walked off, shuffling across E. 174 Street, his departing words, "I have to go home and be with my mother."

Police would later identify the victim as Shalik Wilson, 22, of Longfellow Avenue.

After a preliminary investigation, one police source stated that speed, "played a major factor," as it's estimated the vehicle was traveling, "over 60-miles-per-hour."

Contrary to initial reports that the vehicle was traveling southbound, the source continued, "It looks like he was going northbound... crossed over the yellow line and then hit a light-pole."

The road that runs parallel with the Sheridan Expressway is a dimly-lit, dark desolate and winding road that has claimed the life of at least one other driver, over the past five-years.

Asked if drugs or alcohol could have been a contributing factor, the source added, "We have to wait for a toxicology report, we don't have that yet."

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