Police Release Details In Long Island Crash That Killed 5

RIDGE, NY – A 23-year-old man driving a stolen 2018 Camaro was speeding down Middle Country Road in Ridge Wednesday morning when he caused a four-vehicle crash that left five people dead and two others injured, police said.

According to Suffolk Police, Jamel Turner, of Bellport, was driving the stolen car eastbound on Middle Country Road, west of Woodlot Road, when he crashed into a 2012 Mazda that was also traveling eastbound at about 11:20 a.m. The Camaro then struck an oil truck that was heading westbound and the Mazda struck a 1999 Infiniti that was traveling eastbound.

All four people in the Mazda, which went up in flames, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names are being withheld pending positive identification and notification of next of kin, police said.

A passenger in the Camaro, 19-year-old Lonidell Skinner, of Bellport, was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the oil truck was transported to a local hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the Infiniti was not injured.

Turner was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Major Case Unit detectives have charged him with third degree criminal possession of stolen property and false personation. Additional charges are expected, police said.

A photo of Turner from his Facebook page.

The crash occurred soon after police responded to an apartment complex on Middle Country Road in Shirley after OnStar had tracked the stolen Camaro to that location, Suffolk County Police Chief Stuart Cameron said during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.

When police arrived at the apartment complex, Turner drove the Camaro over the grass and onto Middle Country Road.

“Our patrol cars were some distance behind," Cameron said, according to a Newsday report. "That is going to be part of the investigation. But we do not believe our cars were in pursuit."

Video/main photo by Fully Involved Media Group / Brian LaMonica Jr.

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