3 dead after SUV crashes into tree in Bethpage, catches fire, police say

Three people in an SUV were killed early Sunday when the vehicle struck a tree at the edge of Bethpage State Park and caught fire, the Nassau County Police Department said.

The three victims were pronounced dead at the scene after the 2022 Dodge Durango hit the tree about 1 a.m., on Stymus Avenue near Plainview Road, according to a police news release.

As of Tuesday morning, Nassau police still had not identified the victims.

The police also did not provide further information about the circumstances of the crash, which brought friends of the victims to the scene later Sunday morning and into the afternoon.

The Bethpage Fire Department arrived shortly after 1 a.m. and extinguished the flames within about five minutes, Bethpage Fire Chief Francis X. DeBobes Jr. said. 

The area is adjacent to the state park's Yellow Golf Course.

Bethpage families waking up on Mother’s Day stood on their lawns to watch police tow the burned SUV from the scene.

A charred utility pole and blackened tree marked the site of the crash, with ashy leaves hanging about 25 feet high. 

Michael and Lauren Kiley, residents who live down the block, said they heard the crash.

"We’ve been up all night," Lauren Kiley said. "I heard what sounded like firecrackers, then a popping noise."

Kazi Ahmed was at home across the street with his wife, mother and two children when he heard "a bang" just before 1 a.m. Ahmed called 911 and ran outside to see the crashed SUV and a small fire. He tried to open the rear door, but it was locked.

"I was screaming, ‘Is anybody in the car? Is anybody in the car?’" Ahmed said. "But I didn’t hear anything."

He ran back to his wife, who was begging Ahmed to do whatever he could to help, readying a small iron table to shatter a window.

"I said, ‘No, that’s not going to work,’ and I took my baseball bat," Ahmed said. By the time he ran back to the vehicle it had burst into flames.

Ring camera footage obtained by Newsday shows him running to and from the burning vehicle.

The police arrived several minutes later and the fire department arrived at 1:09 a.m., according to Ahmed.

"I didn’t know what to do," he added, "but whatever my instincts said — I did."

Ahmed said he has asked officials for years to install speed bumps on the stretch of Plainview Road near where the crash occurred because motorists often use it as a short cut at high speeds to get from the nearby Bethpage State Parkway to Route 135.

A group of people who said they were friends of the victims arrived, one by one in separate cars, just after 11:30 a.m. Sunday. They greeted each other with handshakes and pats on the back, and traded condolences, wandering through the area to pluck pieces of plastic and a vehicle headlight from the grass. One distraught friend of the victims pulled a gold chain bracelet from the debris, using a water bottle to clean it.

They declined to speak to Newsday about the crash or the victims.