Three teens cling to life after car crash

A tight-knit South Ozone Park community is holding its collective breath this week, awaiting word on whether three teenagers currently on life support will survive the December 5 car accident that has already taken two lives.
Eighteen-year-olds Devindra Harilall and Christopher Karan were killed when the car they were riding in hit a guardrail and flipped over while speeding southbound on the Van Wyck Expressway near the Nassau Expressway. The accident, which occurred at approximately 12:45 a.m., left the driver of the car, as well as two other passengers, in critical condition.
“I wish I could wake up from this dream,” said Pam Harilall during her son’s wake, held Thursday, December 6 at the Leo F. Kearns Funeral Home. “There are no words I can put together.”
“It’s been pretty rough,” said Devindra’s father, Khem Harilall. “I’ve had a lot of family and loving people with me all day and all night. That makes it a little easier.”
Authorities say the driver of the car, Sanjay Misir, 17, had a suspended license when he drove his 2007 Dodge Charger into the guardrail. The 60-day suspension, which would have ended in January, had been implemented after Misir was cited twice for traffic violations - once for talking on his phone while driving, and once for disobeying a traffic device, reports say.
Misir, as well as passengers Romano Sahid, 19, and a teen identified only as Toshini, remain in critical condition at Jamaica Hospital, where friends have spent countless hours over the last few days, waiting for word on their loved ones.
Misir is a student at CUNY College of Technology, while Sahid attends Queensborough College.
Family members say Harilall’s passions in life included his Hindu religion, as well as music and cars. Now, his white Nissan Maxima sits outside a home whose doorbell is constantly rung by neighbors offering condolences.
“He was a very, very nice kid,” said neighbor Vedhya Jagnanan. “You always saw him with a smile on his face.”
Harilall’s grandfather, Matai Budhai, said his grandson was “very easy going. I never saw him smoke or drink. I was very much in shock that he passed away that quickly.”
Sister Michelle, 14, called him “a great brother. He was like a parent to me when my parents weren’t available. Everyone around here knew him and liked him.”
Andrew Ganesh, a cousin of Christopher Karan and a friend of Harilall, said he was “in hell.”
“They were the only people I ever looked up to, and now they’re gone,” said Ganesh. “They used to drive me home from school, even though it was only two blocks away.”
Ganesh said backyard football games with Karan and Harilall are what he’ll miss most.
According to published reports, a cousin of the driver said the teens were on their way home from Long Island, where they had gone to watch a drag race.
Khem Harilall said he had been under the impression the group had gone to the movies.
“The last thing I told my son was don’t come home late,” said Harilall in published reports. “It’s the worst thing that could happen to a family.”