The parents of a Queens teenager charged with killing his young gal pal in a high-speed crash last year were ordered to take parenting classes Monday for letting the unlicensed 16-year-old get behind the wheel of their high-performance BMW.
Sean Smith, 40, the teen’s father, and his wife, 43-year-old Deo Ramnarine, pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges and ordered to take the 26-week courses for their role in the horrific May 17, 2023 crash that killed 14-year-old Fortune Williams, prosecutors announced.
Smith was also sentenced to three years of probation by Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky.
“The parents of a 16-year-old gave their son a BMW when he did not have legal authority to drive it anywhere in New York City,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“We allege that because of the teenager’s actions 14-year-old Fortune Williams is now dead after she was thrown from the car when it crashed into a UPS truck at more than 100 miles per hour,” Katz said. “Parents who provide vehicles to their children and let them drive illegally can be held responsible in the case of tragedies such as this one.”
The deadly crash was so violent that police said the red 2005 BMW 325i was nearly split in half.
The now-17-year-old teen, whose name has not been released, is facing up to 15 years behind bars if he is convicted of manslaughter and other charges pending against him in the case.
According to authorities, the boy was driving with Williams in the passenger seat when he clipped the back of a UPS truck at 101 miles per hour and spun out of control — sending the victim through the windshield and into the back of the truck, killing her instantly.
The car then slammed into a tractor trailer driving in the opposite direction. The posted speed limit on the road is 30 miles per hour, prosecutors said.
The UPS driver, who was climbing into his truck at the time, was thrown to the ground and injured.
The Queens DA’s office said Smith initially told cops that he bought the car for his son — although the teen had only a junior driver’s license and was not allowed to drive in the boroughs.
Investigators determined that the boy routine drove the BMW to school, raising enough concern that an administrator notified his parents that he was doing so as early as November 2022.
He had also been ticketed for driving without a license and using “a portable electronic device” while driving, also in November 2022, prosecutors said.
CREDIT: NY Post, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
