Two people were killed and three others were critically injured after a fast-moving car crashed into a tree on Long Island early Sunday.
State Police say the driver of a Nissan Maxima was heading west on the Southern State Parkway near North Merrick just before 6 a.m. when he lost control and veered off the roadway.
Two passengers, identified as Bryan Rivas, 20, and Blossom Castro, 22, both from Hempstead, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, Kervens Boutin, 30, of Hempstead, and two other passengers, Marlo Cabrera, 19, of the Bronx, and Antonio Rivas, 22, of Hempstead, were taken to hospitals in critical condition.
Boutin was charged with reckless driving, police said.
Westbound lanes on the parkway near Exit 23 were closed for several hours Sunday morning as police investigated.
The crash site is within a stretch of the parkway where nearly 40 people have died in crashes in the last six years, Newsday reports.
In October, four teenagers from Queens died when a car they were in lost control near the site of Sunday's accident and crashed into trees.
In that crash, investigators said the 17-year-old driver was high and speeding.
