Photos show how roadside memorials allow mourners to share grief over Hylan Boulevard crash victims

Photos show how roadside memorials allow mourners to share grief over Hylan Boulevard crash victims

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – It’s been more than a week since a tragic car crash on the South Shore took the lives of three teenagers on July 10.

The three, Ashley Rodriguez, 15 and siblings Fernanda Gil, 16, and Jesie Gil, 15, perished when a Mustang they were riding in crashed on Hylan Boulevard near Richard Avenue in Pleasant Plains.

The 16-year-old driver of the Mustang survived the crash. His name has not been released by authorities.

In the days since the crash, mourners have created twin roadside memorials in honor of the victims on Hylan near the crash site.

The memorials have grown day by day. They include photos of the victims, crosses with the names of the victims inscribed on them, and personal messages to the lost teens written on utility poles.

The deadly crash occurred at about 8:50 p.m.

Police said the three victims were riding in a Ford Mustang traveling at an “unsafe speed” when it collided with a 2017 GMC Yukon being driven by Maher Asi-Mahmoud, 47, of Morganville, N.J.

The Mustang was eastbound on Hylan Boulevard while the Yukon was headed west on Hylan, said police.

As the Yukon was turning left onto southbound Richard Avenue, the Mustang swerved from the left lane into the right lane, police said.

The Yukon then struck the driver’s side of the Mustang, police said.

The Mustang careened into a tree, splitting the car in half and ejecting the two rear-seat passengers before striking a utility pole, police said.

The driver of the Yukon was later charged with driving with a suspended license.

The 16-year-old driver of the Mustang had a learner’s permit. Under state law, he should have been driving with a licensed adult in the vehicle. No charges have been filed against the Mustang driver.

Here’s a look at how mourners visiting the accident site have remembered the teen victims of the crash.

One of two roadside memorials to three teen victims of car crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Teen accident victim Ashley Rodriguez is remembered at roadside memorial. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Sign with the word “Love” adorns roadside memorial at site on Hylan Boulevard near where three teens were killed in a car crash. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Photo of crash victim Ashley Rodriguez is part of this roadside memorial at the crash site. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A cross hangs on utility pole at roadside memorial to three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A second roadside memorial in honor of three teens who were killed in crash on Hylan Boulevard is on the water side of Hylan. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A personal message to crash victim Jesie Gil is written on this utility pole at roadside memorial on Hylan Boulevard. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Cross dedicated to crash victim Jesie Gil at roadside memorial to three teens killed n car crash on Hylan Boulevard. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Message to crash victim Fernanda Gil is left on utility pole that appears to have been damaged by red Mustang that crashed on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022, killing three teens. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A pink cross carrying the name of crash victim Fernanda Gil rests amid flowers at roadside memorial to three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A note from a teacher at New Dorp High School, where crash victim Ashley Rodriguez attended school, is part of this roadside memorial to three teens who died in car crash on Hylan Boulevard. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

This cheerleading photo is part of a roadside memorial to three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Stuffed animal rests amid religious candles at roadside memorial to three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

One mourner left this pair of sneakers at roadside memorial for three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

The memorials to three teens killed in a car accident on July 10, 2022 have been growing every day as mourners place items at the sites. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

A broken car headlight is part of memorial to three teens killed in accident on Hylan Boulevard earlier this month. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Message from a mourner is written on utility pole at roadside memorial for three teens who perished in Hylan Boulevard car crash. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

An envelope addressed to “3 Angels” was left at roadside memorial to three teens who died in a car crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. – (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Religious candles featuring image of Jesus Christ left by mourners at roadside memorial to three teens killed in car crash on Hylan Boulevard this month. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

These religious candles left at the roadside memorial feature the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Latern with burning candle and a cross with crash victim Ashley Rodriguez’s name is seen at roadside memorial to three teens who were killed in crash on Hylan Boulevard on July 10, 2022. – (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

Balloons adorn utility pole at roadside memorial to the three teens who list their lives in car crash on Hylan Boulevard. – (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island AdvanceTom Wrobleski/Staten Island Adva

MORE ON FATAL ACCIDENT ON HYLAN BOULEVARD

Will more charges be leveled in crash that took 3 lives on Hylan Boulevard?

Surveillance video shows impact of crash that killed 3 teenagers on Hylan Boulevard

Skid marks, shattered glass and a damaged tree. Visit to Hylan Boulevard crash sites shows horros of fatal accident

From The Editor: 3 young lives that didn’t have to be taken

Where Pot Became Legal, Car Crash Deaths Rose

Where Pot Became Legal, Car Crash Deaths Rose
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 19, 2022 (HealthDay Information) – – Automobile crashes and deaths are on the increase in U.S. states that have legalized recreational cannabis, a new analyze finds.

“Cannabis, like liquor and just about just about every other drug, adjustments how you really feel and how you behave. That is the goal of a drug. And that modifications how you generate. We all need to have to realize that driving just after employing marijuana is a poor plan,” said direct researcher Charles Farmer, vice president for study and statistical products and services at the Insurance plan Institute for Highway Basic safety.

His workforce located that just after marijuana legalization, the amount of car or truck crashes with injuries enhanced by approximately 6{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}, whilst deadly crashes rose by 4{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}. No maximize in these crashes was observed in states that hadn’t legalized marijuana, the scientists famous.

These results are dependable with prior research, Farmer reported. “It is turning into far more and much more obvious that the legalization of cannabis doesn’t appear without the need of value. But cannabis legalization is still a novelty, and there is hope that these early tendencies can be turned close to,” he extra.

Farmer thinks there are strategies to aid avoid the penalties of driving substantial. “Perhaps, with the suitable education and enforcement methods, states that are possibly looking at or in the system of legalization can avoid the improve in crashes,” he said.

For the review, Farmer and his colleagues looked at 5 states that legalized leisure marijuana for men and women 21and more mature (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada) and as opposed them with states that did not legalize pot (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming).

They found that immediately after legalization, but just before retail pot product sales started out, the rate of car crashes with injuries jumped almost 7{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}. Immediately after profits commenced, the crash charge dipped a bit (considerably less than 1{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}), but the charge of deadly crashes shot up about 2{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8} right before and following retail gross sales started.

Usually, motorists below the impact of cannabis travel bit by bit, the scientists pointed out. They may not be ready to steer clear of a crash, but their reduced velocity may well make the collision a lot less lethal, Farmer observed.

In prior scientific tests, Farmer’s team discovered that marijuana use has an effect on response time, street monitoring, lane retaining and awareness, all of which can make a crash extra most likely.

Farmer won’t feel marijuana legalization is the only induce of growing collision prices, and the examine cannot show a immediate bring about-and-outcome romance. And unlike alcohol tests, there are no goal steps of impairment linked to cannabis, so it is really not feasible to properly account for the part cannabis plays in vehicle crashes, he said.

The modifications in crash prices diverse by condition: Colorado experienced the greatest bounce (18{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}) and California the smallest (6{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}) immediately after each legalization and the commence of retail product sales. Nevada’s rate fell (7{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}). For lethal crashes, will increase transpired in Colorado (1{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}) and Oregon (4{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}), when declines have been located in Washington (2{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}), California (8{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}) and Nevada (10{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8}).

Alex Otte, nationwide president of MADD (Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving), stated, “We know that driving impaired by any drug, liquor, cannabis or or else, is 100{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8} preventable. It really is not an incident. It is not a mistake. It’s a choice.”

What is actually wanted is to alter the lifestyle so folks realize that it can be not secure to generate right after making use of pot, she said.

“We listen to all the time in pop lifestyle factors like, ‘Maybe I’m a improved driver when I am high’,” Otte explained. “I assume people today just are not knowledgeable, as significantly as they are with alcoholic beverages, that there is this kind of a hazard linked with driving underneath the impact of marijuana or other prescription drugs, and I think a great deal of it will come down to recognition.”

In the long run, Otte hopes there will be approaches to quantify pot’s outcomes on driving, like there are for alcohol.

“We know that roadside assessments and items like that to assistance an officer identify if that human being is safe and sound to push are so vital and so desired,” she claimed.

Impairment by any drug is a danger to you and everyone else on the highway, Otte stated. “Even just one person wounded or killed is just one far too lots of,” she mentioned. “I want folks to know that this is a choice and they have the alternative to make the appropriate decision and not to travel when significant.”

The report was revealed July 19 in the Journal of Studies on Liquor and Medication.

Extra details

For much more on cannabis, head to the U.S. Countrywide Institute on Drug Abuse.

Sources: Charles Farmer, PhD, vice president, research and statistical providers, Insurance coverage Institute for Highway Safety, Ruckersville, Va. Alex Otte, Nationwide President, MADD Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Prescription drugs, July 19, 2022

UPDATE: Fairbank mayor killed in crash involving a driver’s education car | Local News

UPDATE: Fairbank mayor killed in crash involving a driver’s education car | Local News

JANESVILLE — The mayor of Fairbank was killed in a two-car or truck crash Monday early morning on U.S. Highway 218 that associated a driver’s education automobile.

Gregory Harter, 71, a passenger in the driver’s education auto, died at the scene. 3 other folks had been hurt, together with two 14-yr-olds, just one of whom was the driver.

Fairbank Metropolis Clerk Brittany Fuller confirmed that the victim in the crash was Mayor Gregory “Mike” Harter. 

The Iowa Condition Patrol stated that shortly in advance of 8:30 a.m. a 14-12 months-outdated from Waterloo was driving a Chevy Impala southbound on Freeway 218 around the Janesville exit when the auto went onto the shoulder. The driver about-corrected, crossing the southbound lanes of the highway and the median into the route of an oncoming northbound auto.


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A State Patrol formal verified the Chevy Impala was a driver’s education and learning vehicle.

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The driver of the Impala and a passenger from Waverly, the other 14-year-aged, had been harm in the incident. The girl in the other car, Tabetha Gehrke, of Waterloo, was also wounded.

A concept acknowledging Harter’s death was posted on the city of Fairbank’s Facebook web site late afternoon Monday.

“Mike was quite active in our community more than the a long time and excelled in his Mayoral position to support direct the group in the ideal course,” mentioned the submit. “He served as Mayor considering that January of 2018 and prior to that on the town council for 2 years.

“Mike’s really like for his household and enthusiasm for the community was observed day by day and his motivation to the Metropolis of Fairbank will usually be remembered. He will be dearly skipped by metropolis personnel, the council, and the community of Fairbank. We’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to Mike’s spouse, Marla, their young children, Andy (Jeni), and Ryan, and their households.”

Harter beforehand served on the Wapsie Valley Board of Education, according to Courier files. In 2018, he stepped down from his seat to become Wapsie Valley Neighborhood Schools’ interim superintendent after the board ended a sharing arrangement on the management place with Dunkerton Group Universities.

He was a previous educator who retired virtually a ten years back as a faculty superintendent. He led just one of the districts that now would make up East Greene Neighborhood Educational facilities in Jefferson adhering to a 2014 merger.


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Harter was elected to the school board in September 2017 and elected mayor a few months later in November. He stepped down from the board in October 2018 to lead the district on an interim basis.

Harter was transported to Woods Funeral House following Monday’s incident. The two teens were being transported to UnityPoint Overall health-Allen Hospital and Gehrke was transported to MercyOne Waterloo Professional medical Center.

Also responding to the scene of the incident were the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office, Janesville fire and police departments, Waverly Ambulance, the point out health care examiner’s office, Tim and Mike’s Towing, and the Iowa Department of Transportation. The crash remains beneath investigation by the Iowa Point out Patrol.


Images: Remaining Spherical of the 89th Waterloo Open