Unlicensed Brooklyn driver charged with manslaughter for caught-on-camera sidewalk crash that killed two, injured 5

The unlicensed driver who sparked a horrific caught-on-camera Brooklyn crash that killed two and left 5 individuals hospitalized has been charged with manslaughter, police mentioned Tuesday.

Vitaliy Konoplyov can also be charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a car for the Monday afternoon crash at 18th Ave. and sixty fourth St. in Bensonhurst.

Konoplyov, 49, was heading south on 18th Ave. in his Toyota Camry when he blew via a gradual pink mild at sixty fourth St. about 12:45 p.m. and T-boned a Honda CRV heading east on sixty fourth St., sparking a lethal chain response, cops mentioned.

Konoplyov lives in Coney Island, police mentioned. He was not critically harmed and remained on the scene earlier than he was taken into custody.

“He got here down flying this fashion,” Vito Conigliaro, who works at a close-by pizza store, informed the Day by day Information Monday. “There was an enormous explosion … He hit that automotive after which that mild pole and went up on the sidewalk.”

The 51-year-old driver of the Honda CRV spun uncontrolled and struck a 60-year-old lady crossing the intersection, cops mentioned.

“She was bleeding on the ground all over,” Conigliaro mentioned concerning the pedestrian. “They have been pounding her chest however she wasn’t responding.”

Konoplyov’s Toyota veered to the suitable and struck a passing Chevy Equinox pushed by a 71-year-old man earlier than vaulting the sidewalk and crashing into a light-weight pole, surprising surveillance video obtained by the Day by day Information exhibits.

An out-of-control driver ran a pink mild in Brooklyn Monday, setting off a horrific chain-reaction crash that left two individuals lifeless and injured 5 others. (New York Day by day Information Handout)

“There have been two passengers within the [Toyota],” Conigliaro mentioned. “The man within the rear flew into the entrance and his head went via the windshield. It was protruding of the windshield.”

Components of the wrecked cars flew via the air, crashing down on parked autos on the bustling industrial strip.

The 60-year-old pedestrian and the 51-year-old Honda driver who struck her have been taken to Maimonides Hospital, the place they each died.

One other sufferer was taken to the identical hospital, the place the individual was clinging to life Tuesday. 4 different individuals have been transported to space hospitals and are anticipated to outlive cops mentioned.

“Every single time a life is misplaced on our streets, impacted households and communities want us to pursue swift justice,” Metropolis Council Transportation Committee Chair Selvena Brooks-Powers mentioned Monday. “Past the courtroom, this should additionally embody the place avenue security infrastructure enhancements may also help save lives.”

Town’s Division of Transportation had designated 18th Ave. as a precedence hall for avenue security enchancment however introduced final month it was eradicating the hall from its checklist of Imaginative and prescient Zero precedence corridors.

Konoplyov’s arraignment in Brooklyn Prison Courtroom was pending Tuesday.

With Evan Simko-Bednarski