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2 Brothers Die When Car Launches Into Tree After Crash Off Bronx River Parkway

What to Know

  • Police say the Mercedes crashed through a guardrail and struck a tree on the side of the Bronx River Parkway
  • Two men inside the vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene
  • "There was no life whatsoever coming from the vehicle," a driver who saw the grisly accident said

Two brothers in their 40s were killed when the Mercedes they were in crashed off the Bronx River Parkway and flew into a tree Friday morning.

Dayan Hunter, 47, failed to navigate a bend on the northbound side of the highway and crashed into a guardrail near 233rd Street in Wakefield around 12:20 a.m., police say. The impact launched the Mercedes into a tree, killing him and his 44-year-old brother Dave Hunter.

Video shows the white sedan hanging against a tree off the northbound side of the roadway. Swarms of firefighters gathered around the mangled vehicle, their reflective gear glinting in the night.

Rich Arce was driving when he says he saw the car "wrapped around a tree." He went to check on the passengers and said he got no response. 

"There was no life whatsoever coming from the vehicle," Arce said. 

The brothers' family declined to speak with reporters Friday. But family friend Hubert Matthews said the brothers had been celebrating a birthday and driving home when they crashed, just a mile from Dayan's home. 

The MTA says Dayan Hunter was an employee -- a cleaner who worked at the Kingsbridge bus depot in the Bronx. A transit workers union spokesman said Dayan had been a transit worker for about nine years, and that he had three children. Dave was a corrections officer, Matthews said. 

The investigation into their deaths is ongoing.

Exit 10 in the northbound lanes of the highway was closed for hours as authorities investigated. The exit reopened to traffic by 5 a.m.

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