Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Harpreet Singh, 20, has been indicted by a grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault and other crimes for allegedly drunk driving, running a light and hitting two other motorists. Following the double collisions, a male passenger in the defendant’s car was killed on April 21, 2021.

District Attorney Katz said, “Tragically, we are once again – and all too often – dealing with a death caused by an alleged DWI driver. As alleged, this defendant was driving at more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit and had no business behind the wheel of a car. As a result, one man is dead and two others are fortunate to have survived.”

Singh, of 118^th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens, was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino on an 11-count indictment charging him with manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting injury or death, criminally negligent homicide, operating a motor vehicle while under influence of alcohol, reckless driving, failing to obey a traffic control device, failing to stop at a steady red signal and operating a vehicle at a speed in excess of maximum speed limits. Justice Cimino set Singh’s return date for July 7, 2021. If convicted, the defendant faces up to fifteen years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that around 1 a.m. on April 21, 2021, police responded to the scene of two car crashes on Atlantic Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. Defendant Singh, who is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a 2018 Honda Accord, was going eastbound at a high rate of speed on Atlantic Avenue when he failed to stop at a solid red light and struck a Ford pick-up truck at 111^th Street. The defendant’s car continued moving and slammed into a second car, a Mercedes Benz GLA250.

When interviewed at the scene, according to the charges, the defendant allegedly gave police a fake name and told them that he was in the back seat of the Honda. Singh is accused of leaving the scene moments later to go to the hospital – failing to admit that he was the actual driver of the Honda.

A witness told police that defendant Singh was the driver, who allegedly appeared intoxicated immediately after the crashes.

Furthermore, a search warrant to test the blood retrieved from the defendant at the hospital was obtained which indicated that the defendants’ blood alcohol content was .17 – which is above the legal limit of .08 in New York City.

Continuing, the DA said, police found the victim Suraj Kumar in the front seat of the Honda Accord. The 23-year-old had extensive injuries to both his head and body. Mr. Kumar was rushed to a local hospital where he died from the injuries.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Patrick McMahon of the New York City Police Department’s Highway Safety Dist. under the supervision of Sergeant Robert Denig.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Nicolosi, of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Shawn Clark, Bureau Chief, Michael Whitney, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.