A Springfield Gardens teenager was sentenced to 1 ⅓ to four years in prison for causing the death of another teen who was a passenger in the BMW he was driving in 2023 when he was just 16 years old.
The teen’s parents were previously sentenced on endangering the welfare of a child charges for giving their son access to the car when he was legally unable to drive the vehicle. It marked the first time parents were convicted on such charges related to a fatal car crash in Queens and was believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in New York State.
“This was a landmark case where both the unlicensed teenage driver and his parents were held responsible for the teenager’s deadly actions,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
According to the charges, on May 17, 2022, at approximately 6:38 pm, the defendant was driving a red 2005 BMW 325I westbound on North Conduit Avenue near 160th Street at a speed calculated at 101 miles per hour, with 14-year-old Fortune Williams in the passenger seat. The posted speed limit was 30 miles per hour. The teenager lost control of the vehicle when attempting to move from the left-center lane to the right-center lane and crashed into the back of a parked UPS truck. After hitting the truck, the BMW spun across the roadway and struck a tractor-trailer traveling westbound.
As a result of the initial collision, Williams was ejected from the front passenger seat of the BMW into the back of the truck. She suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.
As a UPS employee was getting into his truck, the BMW collided with the back of it, throwing the employee to the ground, the charges state. The UPS deliveryman was transported by EMS to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition and treated for a large hematoma to his leg, a laceration to his face, and a bruise to his chest.
The 18-year-old, of 227th Street in Springfield Gardens, pleaded guilty on May 12 to manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and numerous vehicle and traffic violations. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky granted the defendant youthful offender status on Friday and sentenced him to 1 ⅓ to four years in prison.
“The 16-year-old driver was operating a BMW given to him by his parents — despite not having the legal authority to drive — when he crashed and killed his passenger, 14-year-old Fortune Williams,” Katz said. “Even worse, months earlier, he was ticketed for driving without a license. With this sentence, the defendant — now 18 — will serve prison time for the tragic and untimely death of Fortune.”
At Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries, the defendant explained to police that he had picked Williams up at her home and was taking her to his grandmother’s house. His father, Sean Smith, who was with his son at the hospital, told police that while the BMW was registered in his name, he had bought the vehicle for his son and that the car belonged to his son. The teen had a junior driver’s license, which prohibited him from driving under any circumstances in New York City.
Three weeks after the fatal crash, on June 7, 2023, Smith told the car’s insurer that his son had driven the BMW approximately twice with him in the vehicle and that his son was a good driver.
Prior to the collision, in November 2022, witnesses from the defendant’s school saw him regularly driving the same BMW, and a school administrator informed the parents that their child was driving to school.
Smith pleaded guilty in 2024 to endangering the welfare of a child. Justice Yavinsky sentenced him to three years of probation. As a condition of the sentence, he was required to participate in a 26-week parenting class and attend the Victim Impact Panel Program. The teen’s mother, Deo Ramnarine, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and disorderly conduct. Justice Yavinsky sentenced her to a 26-week parenting class and to attend a Victim Impact Panel Program. She successfully completed both and was allowed to withdraw her plea to endangering the welfare of a child, with only the disorderly conduct charge standing.
