A speeding driver who crashed into a fence outside JFK Airport two years ago— causing a 26-year-old woman in the back seat to be fatally impaled by a pole — has been charged with vehicular homicide, police said Wednesday.
In the wake of the July 24, 2022, crash, Javon Galette, 30, sued the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for keeping the fence he crashed into at Rockaway and Brookville Blvds. in poor condition. That case is still active.
When he slammed into the fence about 11:30 p.m. a pole shot through the car’s windshield, skewering Galette in the chest and running through rear passenger Brigette Mercado.
A 28-year-old woman in the front passenger seat suffered just minor injuries.
Medics rushed Galette and his front-seat passenger to Jamaica Hospital, where Galette was treated for a critical injuries he ultimately recovered from. Mercado was taken to St. John’s Hospital, where she died.
Members of the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad later determined Galette was speeding when he lost control of the wheel, vaulted the sidewalk and crashed into the chain-link fence.
Queens prosecutors have now indicted Galette on charges including aggravated vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault.
During his arraignment Tuesday, a Queens Criminal Court judge ordered Galette released without bail.
Galette lives in Rockaway Beach, according to cops.
On June 11, 2023, about 11 months after the crash, Galette filed a civil lawsuit against both the city and the Port Authority claiming the fence’s poor condition caused the pole to fly through his windshield and spear both himself and Mercado.
A few months later, Mercado’s family joined the lawsuit.
City attorneys quickly fired back that August, demanding in court documents that a judge dismiss all allegations against them.
“Plaintiff Javon Galette’s negligence caused or contributed to the alleged injuries,” the city said, adding that Galette wasn’t wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
The lawsuit is continuing to wend its way through Queens Civil Court.
A call to Galette’s attorney in the civil suit was not immediately returned Tuesday.