Press Release
ALBANY RESIDENT SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR DRAG-RACING CRASH THAT KILLED HOSPITAL WORKER
Co-defendant Awaiting Sentencing Next Month
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Alamin Ahmed was sentenced today to seven years in prison in connection with the drag-racing crash in Kew Gardens Hills that killed a hospital worker in November 2020. Co-defendant Mir Fahmid is awaiting sentencing.
District Attorney Katz said: “These men used the streets of Queens as a racetrack with tragic consequences: A healthcare worker going in to start his shift in the midst of the pandemic lost his life. These two men are being held accountable for their deadly recklessness.”
Ahmed, 25, of Central Avenue, Albany, pleaded guilty in May to manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise today imposed the sentence of seven years in prison on the assault charge and two to six years in prison on the manslaughter charge to be followed by two years post-release supervision. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
Fahmid, 25, of 168th Place, Jamaica, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degree, is scheduled to be sentenced on August 22.
According to the charges:
• In the early morning hours of November 20, 2020, the defendants attended a party in Brooklyn to celebrate Fahmid’s birthday. Afterward, they each drove their cars to a gas station on Main Street and Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens Hills to get gas. The two were seen on surveillance video footage lining their cars up side by side at a red light and then racing down Union Turnpike when the signal turned to green.
• Ahmed and Fahmid sped through two solid red lights. Daniel Crawford, 52, was driving southbound on Parsons Blvd. heading to work at nearby Queens Hospital Center when his Toyota was T-boned at the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and Union Turnpike by the silver Mercedes-Benz driven by Ahmed and the red Honda Accord driven by Fahmid, both of which were traveling at more than 90 miles per hour.
• Crawford, who suffered an internal decapitation, was rushed to the hospital where he worked and was pronounced dead.
• Ahmed’s vehicle was disabled in the crash and he was taken into custody by police at the scene. He showed signs of intoxication and was administered a test at the crash site which revealed his blood alcohol level was .094 percent—above the DWI threshold of .08 percent. Fahmid fled the scene and was arrested two years later.
Assistant District Attorney Kanella Georgopoulos, of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal andMajor Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting this case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.