We blame the parents of the two teenagers who are out on $250,000 bail on the manslaughter charges pending against them, following the death of a 12-year-old passenger in the crash of one of the drag racing cars.
One teen, David Lakhchakov, is only 16 and has no driver’s license and the other, David Badalov, is just 18-years-old. The drag race was enabled by the parents of each boy. These boys are not movie stars, rock stars or models. They could not afford the cars they were driving. Badalov was behind the wheel of a 2004 BMW and Lakhchakov was driving a 2009 Lexus.
According to the police at the scene, the BMW lost control and bumped the Lexus which then careened into the back of a parked 2004 Ford van. The 12-year-old passenger in the BMW, Aviv Babayev, was seriously injured, suffering two broken legs, a broken pelvis, and severe trauma to his torso and head. He died of those injuries.
These Flushing kids were stupidly operating their vehicles or their parents’ vehicles at rates of speed in excess of 76 miles per hour in the vicinity of Weeks Lane on Francis Lewis Boulevard, a 35-mile-per-hour zone.
They have brought grief and tragedy into the lives of several families, just because they lacked the wisdom to follow the law and not race down the road at night. Now their lives will abruptly take a new direction. One filled with courts, lawyers and years of jail time.
Our local police have responded by pulling over regular adult drivers who are just slightly exceeding the posted 35-mph speed limit on the Boulevard and writing speeding tickets. Bravo 109th and 111th Precincts – your response is too little, too late, and at the wrong time of day. Where are your sector cars, your patrols when these testosterone-jazzed kids are testing their need for speed at night?
Some communities on Long Island post stationary speed trolleys at the side of the roads. Are these flashing signs a deterrent to the kind of wanton behavior of this Flushing pair?
When is comes to saving lives, we should try everything, but let us target the right audience and not punish everyone for the misjudgment of two so young and so stupid.
