{"id":84715,"date":"2026-05-18T01:57:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/84715\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:57:59","slug":"neighbors-tried-to-lift-suv-off-one-of-the-men-killed-by-drunk-driver-on-upper-west-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/84715\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors tried to lift SUV off one of the men killed by drunk driver on Upper West Side"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neighbors of one of the men killed by an out-of-control drunk driver<\/a> on the Upper West Side desperately tried to lift the killer\u2019s Mercedes off of their crushed friend, the victim\u2019s friend told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

Louis Lopez, 30, described how he rushed to Amsterdam Ave. near W. 109th St. to try and save Jason Negron, 46, who was killed along with Michael Saint-Hilaire, 35, by the runaway SUV driver Friday evening.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like 40 people. There was a lot of people at the scene just trying to move the vehicle off of him but that car was just not budging at all,\u201d Lopez told The News Sunday. \u201cWe attempted to try and take off any safety brakes or mechanisms that the car might have, but it just wasn\u2019t allowing the car to move at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart was completely shattered at that point,\u201d he added. \u201cI just felt hopeless and kind of useless. Especially when you know somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Victims<\/p>\n

GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Victims Michael Saint-Hilaire, left, and Jason Negron, right, are seen speaking on the day of the crash. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

The driver, Elvin Suarez, 61, was three blocks from his home when slammed his Mercedes-Benz SUV into a parked Volkswagen Jetta SUV on Amsterdam Ave. near W. 109th St., at about 6 p.m., then kept going, vaulting onto a pedestrian island and the sidewalk, plowing into a crowd of people, cops said. He also struck and injured two other pedestrians, both men, ages 46 and 36, cops said.<\/p>\n

Police sources said Suarez may have been going as fast as 80 mph when he crashed.<\/p>\n

He then slammed into a parked 1999 Chevrolet Astro van, occupied by a 51-year-old man, causing a chain-reaction crash involving four other parked vehicles.<\/p>\n

Suarez\u2019s blood alcohol content measured 0.1 %, well over the 0.08 % legal threshold for drunken driving, cops said. He remains hospitalized, and is slated to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on manslaughter and other charges.<\/p>\n

\"Friends<\/p>\n

Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Friends and neighbors attend a memorial for the crash victims on Amsterdam Ave. near West 109th St. on Sunday, May 17, 2026. (Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Suarez knew both of the men he killed, Lopez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all people that we literally grew up with\u2026. They all knew each other,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was just inconsiderate. He took two innocent people\u2019s lives, people who didn\u2019t deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding Negron and Saint-Hilaire, he said, \u201cThese were people who were pillars, people who were important to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two victims were captured together in a photo talking to each other just hours before the crash, he said, pointing to a photo \u2014 apparently from a local security camera \u2014 at a makeshift memorial to the pair.<\/p>\n

\"Crash<\/p>\n

GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Crash victims Jason Negron, left, and Michael Saint-Hilaire. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

Mei King, 61, who lives in the building on W. 110th St. where Negron worked for years as a doorman, said she wanted to pay her respects at the memorial Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a young man when he first worked in the building,\u201d she said. \u201cHe saw my little kids grow up for 20 years. My daughter sobbed when she heard who it was\u2026. Jason always did the morning shift, the 8 to 4.\u201d<\/p>\n

She last saw him Friday, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking. We love him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was always happy with us. He always has a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Friends<\/p>\n

Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Friends and neighbors attend a memorial for the crash victims on Amsterdam Ave. near West 109th St. on Sunday night. (Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Negron had two daughters, one in high school, the other who just finished her first year in college, King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took his kids to a water park every Christmas,\u201d she said. \u201cHe saved his vacation time for the whole year to take his family on vacation for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saint-Hilaire was the father of young triplets and was looking forward to celebrating their second birthday. He worked for Mount Sinai Health System and aspired to be a cop.<\/p>\n

King called the crash \u201csenseless,\u201d adding that anyone from the neighborhood could have been wiped out.<\/p>\n

\u201cPark the car and walk,\u201d she said of driver. \u201cYou\u2019re that close (to your home).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neighbors of one of the men killed by an out-of-control drunk driver on the Upper West Side desperately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[101],"tags":[199,6312,35129,37322,10049,2578,13660,200,1453,14869,14870,38,37320,37321],"class_list":["post-84715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-amsterdam","tag-amsterdam","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-netherlands","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116593105790245252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}