Two motorcyclists were killed yesterday when they collided with an SUV in the Astoria section of Queens.
Cops say 32-year-old Michael Fernandez and 36-year-old Jennifer Manthorne were riding on a motorcycle together around 4:30 p.m. yesterday when they crashed into a Nissan Xterra near the intersection of 20th Avenue and 24th Street. According to authorities, the SUV was trying to make a u-turn at the time, and Fernandez, who was driving the motorcycle, clipped the car while attempting to speed up.
Both Fernandez and Manthorne, who family members describe as longtime friends were thrown from their vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. "It sounded like a bomb,” witness Giovan Gonsalez told the Daily News. “All you heard was a skidding and a big bang.”
The unidentified driver of the SUV, a 56-year-old woman, was transported to Elmhurst Hospital, where authorities say she is in stable condition; the incident is still under investigation.
