SPEEDING 20 YEAR-OLD STATEN ISLAND CAR RACER DIES ON "DEAD MAN'S CURVE"
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
On Saturday, September 4, 2010 a race on a dangerous Staten Island street known as "dead man's curve" ended with a fiery crash Saturday that decapitated one of the drivers, police said.
Philip Boney-Scrivano was speeding in a 2009 Honda sedan he bought this week for his 20th birthday. He raced along at about 100 mph with another car in hot pursuit about 2 a.m. When the speeding cars reached a bend on Bay St. where two lanes merge into one - tragedy struck.
Boney-Scrivano, whose friend sat beside him as he tore down the quiet street, lost control of his car, which skidded wildly for more than 100 feet before it jumped a curb, plowed into a parking meter and them slammed into a utility pole, police said.
Boney-Scrivano was thrown from the vehicle; and his body was cut in half when he hit the pole, police and witnesses said.
"The boom was so loud it sounded like it happened in my house," said Jorge Vendrell, 40, who lives a few doors down from the gruesome wreck.
His out-of-control car - with pal Jean Carlos, age 25, still strapped in the front seat - smashed into a gas pump at the Citgo station at the corner of Hannah St. The pump exploded and searing flames quickly engulfed the Honda and Boney-Scrivano's body.
Remarkably, firefighters managed to pull Carlos - who suffered severe burns and cuts to his head - from the burning, mangled car. He was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center and is expected to survive, police said. Firefighters were able to contain and extinguish the flames.
"The car isn't even a car anymore," said one witness too shaken to give his name. "It's a f---ing miracle anyone survived that."
The driver of the other car in the race - Korey Swat, age 33 - stopped a short distance from the accident and was arrested as he gaped at the flames, authorities and witnesses said.
Swatz, who lives on Staten Island, was charged with driving while intoxicated, police said. Staten Island prosecutors say he could face other charges directly related to the crash that killed Scrivano.
The stretch of Bay St. where Boney-Scrivano died is notorious as a popular spot for drag racers, complained rattled residents.
"They call it dead man's curve," said John Encarnacion, assistant manger at the Rent-a-Center next door to the Citgo.
"Drag racing and betting - it's dangerous," said Encarnacion, 21. "It gets very [busy] out here, especially in the summer. This road's a killer."
Co-worker Steven Kupseta agreed.
"People try to race and figure they can have fun, but this is what happens," Kupseta said.
Boney-Scrivano, a hockey player at Susan E. Wagner High School, bought the Honda five days ago, distraught neighbors said.
Investigators suspect Boney-Scrivano was drinking before the crash. His MySpace page is full of references to marijuana and his most recent Facebook posting was Wednesday when he asked "Anyone down to blaze?"
The grisly wreck comes just days after two young Staten Island men were killed when their car flipped over after hitting a telephone pole.
Daniel Peluso, 19 and Jeff Capretta, 20, died after their Nissan Altima was nearly cut in half in the Sunday morning crash. Investigators believe alcohol played a role in that accident.
