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Feb. 13, 2024 By Bill Parry
A Jackson Heights man was killed in a hit-and-run crash on the Whitestone Expressway in College Point on Saturday morning, police said.
Officers from the 109th Precinct in Flushing responded to a 911 call of a multi-vehicle collision near Linden Place where they found 43-year-old David Berney unconscious and unresponsive lying on the highway along with another injured man.
EMS responded to the scene and declared Berney dead on scene while the 27-year-old man was transported by private means to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital where he was listed in stable condition, police said.
A preliminary investigation by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad determined that Berney, who lived on 93rd Street with his wife and son, was driving a 2012 Scion iQ subcompact car northbound on the Whitestone Expressway at around 6:20 a.m. when he was rammed from behind by the driver of a 2004 Toyota Rav4 SUV.
Both drivers got out of their vehicles in the center lane of the Whitestone Expressway to assess the damage to their cars when the driver of a 2014 Mercedes Benz SUV traveling northbound smashed into the Toyota Scion knocking the two men to the pavement.
The driver of the Mercedes SUV sped away from the scene ditched his damaged Mercedes further north along the Whitestone Expressway and ran off in an unknown direction and remains at large.
There are no arrests and the investigation by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad remains ongoing.
Berney was a longtime employee of the MTA where he worked as a supervisor.
“This is a tragic loss for the New York City Transit family,” NYC Transit Senior Vice President Demetrius Crichlow said. “David was a father, husband, and dedicated colleague who was on his way to work as a Track Supervisor when his life was heinously taken away by a hit-and-run driver. Our deepest condolences go out to David’s family as we call for the perpetrator to be quickly apprehended and face justice.”
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