The parents of a Queens teenager charged with killing his younger girlfriend in a high-speed crash last year were ordered to take a parenting class Monday after they allowed an unlicensed 16-year-old boy behind the wheel of their high-performance BMW.
The boy’s father, Sean Smith, 40, and his wife Deo Ramnarine, 43, pleaded guilty to child endangerment for their roles in the horrific accident which killed 14-year-old Fortune Williams on May 17, 2023, and were ordered to undergo a 26-week course. The prosecution announced.
Smith was also placed on three years’ probation by Superior Court Judge Michael Yabinsky.
“The parents of a 16-year-old boy gave their son a BMW, even though he had no legal authority to drive such a vehicle within New York City,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“We allege that the teenager’s actions caused the death of 14-year-old Fortune Williams, who was thrown from her vehicle when it struck a UPS truck at over 100 miles per hour,” Katz said. “In tragedies such as this, parents who give their children a car and allow them to drive illegally can be held liable.”
The fatal crash was so violent that police say a red 2005 BMW 325i was nearly split in half.
The boy, now 17, whose name has not been released, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter and other charges in the case.
Authorities said the boy was driving a car with Williams in the passenger seat when the vehicle struck the rear of a UPS truck at 101 mph, causing the vehicle to lose control and sending the victim through the windshield and into the back of the truck, killing him instantly.
The car then crashed into a tractor-trailer traveling in the opposite direction on a road where the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, prosecutors said.
The UPS driver, who was in the truck at the time, was thrown to the ground and injured.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, Smith initially told police he bought the car for his son, but the boy only had a junior driver’s license and was not allowed to drive in Queens.
Investigators discovered the boy routinely drove to school in a BMW, raising concerns that administrators had notified the boy’s parents in November 2022 that the boy was driving to school in a BMW.
He also received tickets in November 2022 for driving without a license and using a “hand-held electronic device” while driving, according to prosecutors.
