Queens Double Hit & Run, Midtown Crash

This morning, one man is dead and a woman is seriously injured after a series of hit-and-run incidents. Christian Melendez's Honda had stalled on the Grand Central Parkway near Utopia Parkway. A car rear-ended them and sped off, so Melendez and a passenger got out of the car to check out the damage.

Then Melendez's Honda was broadsided by a second car, a Chevy Impala, causing the Honda to crush them. Melendez died at Mary Immaculate Hospital, and his female passenger is in critical condition. A second passenger in Melendez's car was unharmed. The driver of the Impala fled the scene, abandoned the damaged car in Bushwick, and then apparently returned to the crash site with his father. The police have him in custody for questioning, according to WABC 7.

And last night, two women were injured as they crossed 48th Street at Fifth Avenue. A witness said that a car tried to overtake a cab that was turning "left [onto East 48th Street] from the second lane." The witness Bengt Damm told the Post, "This idiot came charging down [Fifth]... The lunatic driver - he was in shock. He just sat there." The women are in stable condition, and no one was charged. Come on, drivers - only turn left from the left lane (and right from the right lane), and be careful out there, please!