Three local men killed in Roosevelt car accident

Three young men were killed in a car accident on Sunday, Feb. 13, around 5 a.m., when the 2006 Saturn Ion they were traveling in struck a bridge embankment on the eastbound side of the Southern State Parkway, at Nassau Road, in Roosevelt.

The men involved in the accident were Sewanhaka High School graduates Brendon McRae, 24, and Naquan Bell, 21, and Uniondale High School graduate Stanley Sagesse, 23, of Hempstead. According to the New York State Police, officers responded to a call of a car fire and entrapment at 5:12 a.m. Police said the vehicle ignited when it struck the bridge embankment, after it traveled off the roadway. The three male occupants were trapped inside.

An uninvolved motorist, Diego Rafael Zuluaga, age 26, of Amityville, stopped at the scene, and with the assistance of Trooper Mary Fagan, removed the burning rear seat passenger from the vehicle. Fagan was able to extinguish the fire from the victim’s body and clothing. The vehicle became fully engulfed, with both the operator and front seat passenger trapped inside. McRae and Sagesse were pronounced dead at the scene, and Bell was transported to the Nassau University Medical Center in critical condition, but succumbed to internal injuries sustained in the accident shortly after, police said.

The accident is under investigation by the New York State Police.

Funeral services for Naquan Bell and Brendon McRae will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 22, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., immediately following the viewing at the Emanuel Baptist Church, at 1880 Pelham St. in Elmont.