Queens fugitive arrested in fatal 2019 hit-and-run crash that left 72-year-old South Ozone Park woman dead: NYPD – QNS

It took nearly half a decade, but the NYPD has finally closed its investigation into an unsolved case in Queens involving a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a high school senior from South Ozone Park in the 106th Precinct in 2019.

Naquan Young, 46, was arrested on a warrant and extradited to Queens, where he was arrested Thursday afternoon at the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills. Young was indicted in Queens Criminal Court in December 2023 on a grand jury indictment obtained by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

Young, who lived at 135th Place in South Ozone Park at the time of the incident, was charged with manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, assault and leaving the scene of a crime. These charges stemmed from a fatal crash early in the morning of Tuesday, September 10, 2019, at the intersection of 126th Street and 111th Avenue that left 72-year-old Gilda Lascano dead.

Young was reportedly behind the wheel of a 2004 Lexus RX330 traveling westbound on 111th Avenue when he ran a steady red light at 126th Street at approximately 1:13 a.m. and collided with a 2002 Honda CRV driven by 56-year-old Duvis Villa-Escorcia, who was traveling northbound on 126th Street.

The victim, who lived just seven blocks south of Young on 126th Street and halfway down 126th Street from the crash scene, was a passenger in the Honda. She was ejected from the vehicle before it crashed into Elegant Floral Design, 125-19 111th Avenue, while Young fled the scene on foot down 111th Avenue.

Police from the 106th Precinct responded to a 911 call about a car crash at that location and found Lascano lying in the street with serious injuries to her body. Emergency medical services arrived, pronounced her dead at the scene, and transported Villa-Escorcia to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was in stable condition. Young had been arrested on another drunken driving charge in Pennsylvania. Members of the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force took him into custody and transported him back to Queens. Following his arraignment Friday morning, Young was remanded without bail and ordered to appear in court on July 25.