A 42-year-old mother and her 10-year-old daughter died in a crash near the Long Island Expressway in Queens Wednesday that injured four other people, including another child, authorities said.
Police say a preliminary investigation reveals a Ford Explorer driven by a 46-year-old woman was speeding north on 210th Street in Bayside around 6:30 p.m. and veered to the left for some reason, crossing the double yellow line and slamming into a Toyota Camry with five people inside.
After the Explorer hit the Camry, it mounted the sidewalk and hit a tree stump, then kept moving on the sidewalk until it crashed into a fire hydrant. The 46-year-old driver of the Explorer was the only occupant in the vehicle, police said; she was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
Police say the mother and daughter who died were in the back seat of the Camry; they were both pronounced dead at the hospital. Another daughter in the back seat, who is 8, was critically injured in the accident. A 74-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman in the front of the Camry were hospitalized in stable condition, according to police. It wasn't clear if all the people in the Camry were related.
Surveillance video showed the SUV barrel into the fire hydrant after hitting the Camry; the front of the vehicle appeared heavily damaged before it smashed into the fire hydrant, veered upward for a moment and came to rest.
No arrests have been made, and police say the investigation is ongoing.
