Dec. 12, 2023 By Bill Parry
A Far Rockaway man was killed on Sunday night after losing control of his vehicle and crashing into a light pole on Cross Bay Boulevard in Broad Channel, according to the NYPD.
Police from the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision near the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard and East 1st Road at around 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 10. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the victim lying on the roadway unconscious and unresponsive with severe body trauma.
EMS responded and pronounced the man dead at the scene, police said. He was later identified as Melvin Garcia, 27, of Beach 44th Street in the Bayswater section of Far Rockaway.
A preliminary investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that Garcia was driving a red Toyota Corolla at a high rate of speed northbound on Cross Bay Boulevard nearing the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge when he failed to properly navigate the roadway and slammed into a wooden light pole in front of the Callahead depot at East 1st Road. Garcia was ejected from the vehicle and hit the roadway.
The investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD Highway District’s Investigation Squad.