A Brooklyn man is facing manslaughter charges after police said he crashed his car on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and left the 25-year-old woman he was driving home to burn to death while he hailed a taxi.
Saeed Ahmad was arrested at a hospital where he was being treated for burns to his arms and legs after the crash on the highway early Friday. He also faces charges of criminally negligent homicide, speeding and leaving the scene of an accident.
Police said that Ahmad was driving 25-year-old Harleen Grewel near Centre Street in Gowanus when his 2007 Infiniti sedan spun out of control, struck a concrete barrier and burst into flames.
Video taken by other passing motorists and passengers shows a crumpled fireball of wreckage that took up an entire lane of the elevated highway.
Saeed was able to escape the burning wreckage and hop into a taxi, police say; firefighters didn't know that Grewel was still in the passenger seat until they put out the fire.
News 4 reached out to Grewel's family, but they declined to comment. Her neighbor called her death "absolutely horrible."
Police said that when they found the Ahmad later that morning, he wasn't legally drunk but that he may have had a few drinks before the crash. It's unclear if he has an attorney who could speak for him.
