Drunk Driver Jailed For Grand Central Parkway Crash That Killed 2

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- A New Jersey man will spend years behind bars for a multi-vehicle crash on Grand Central Parkway in Queens that left two people dead, including a teenage boy, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Andrew Shakespeare, 34, of Roselle, was sentenced to prison on Monday for the horrific crash that unfolded on the highway near Jamaica Estates last July when he drunkenly drove five passengers home from a wedding, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

"A night of celebrating ended tragically with the deaths of two people as a result of this defendant’s reckless actions," Brown said.

Shakespeare was "in a highly intoxicated condition" as he sped his black BMW X5 down the highway's westbound side at over 100 mph in the early hours of July 16, Brown said. He tried to pass a white Nissan in the entrance lane near 188th Street but instead sideswiped the car and lost control of his own, careening into a nearby silver Nissan Rogue, the charges state.

The BMW and the Nissan Rogue crashed through the guard rail and landed in the highway's eastbound lanes, where both vehicles rolled over, according to the charges. A Mercedez Benz got tangled in the mess when the driver swerved to avoid both cars and wound up flipping over.

Akeam Grant, a 16-year-old passenger in Shakespeare's BMW, was found lying in the roadway and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Layon Campbell, a 34-year-old passenger in the BMW's front seat, died later at a nearby hospital after he was pulled from the car, according to the police complaint.

Two other BMW passengers, the Nissan Rogue's driver and two passengers, and drivers of both the Mercedes Benz and white Nissan were also seriously injured in the crash, the complaint states.

Shakespeare refused a breathalyzer test at the scene and blood test at the hospital, forcing authorities to wait for a court-authorized warrant to test his blood alcohol level. When they finally did six hours later, it was still above the legal limit to drive, according to the charges

In April, Shakespeare pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in Queens Supreme Court.

He will serve up to 7 to 21 years in prison and must afterwards have a breathalyzer device installed to any cars he drives that will keep it from starting if he's intoxicated.

(Lead photo via Shutterstock)