Teen moped rider dies after Bronx intersection impact
At 6:44 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2025, Juan Alexander Quizhpi Naranjo, 17, died and a 14-year-old girl was injured at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street, where police said he was riding a moped and a 42-year-old man was driving a Honda Odyssey.
What We Know
Juan Alexander Quizhpi Naranjo, 17, died after a Feb. 24, 2025 crash at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street in the Bronx. The official record lists a motorcycle and an SUV, one motorist killed and one motorist injured. Police told Gothamist and the Daily News that Quizhpi Naranjo was riding north on Metcalf Avenue with a 14-year-old girl behind him while a 42-year-old man was driving a Honda Odyssey east on East 172nd Street. Both teens were thrown from the two-wheeler and taken to Jacobi, where Quizhpi Naranjo was pronounced dead; the girl was stable or expected to recover. Police said the Honda driver stayed at the scene, no charges were immediately filed, and investigators were still examining right of way and any traffic violation.
Two teens were thrown and rushed to Jacobi
The official crash record places the fatal impact at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street at 6:44 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2025, with one motorist killed and one motorist injured.
One report described the approach differently
The New York Post, citing police, reported that the older teen was 18 and traveling east on East 172nd Street while the Honda driver was traveling north on Metcalf Avenue. Gothamist, the Daily News and the official record identify the fatal rider as 17, and Gothamist and the Daily News reported the opposite directions of travel.
The riders were teenagers from the Bronx crash scene
Gothamist identified the teen who died as Juan Alexander Quizhpi Naranjo, a 17-year-old Bronx resident who lived on Fteley Avenue, a few blocks from the crash site. Police said they were still looking into the relationship between him and the 14-year-old girl who was riding behind him.
Gothamist reported that the girl was in stable condition the next morning. ABC7 reported that the girl and the 42-year-old Honda driver were expected to survive.
Reports used several terms for the two-wheeler
The official record lists a motorbike, normalized as a motorcycle, with two occupants, and a 2011 Honda SUV with one occupant. The motorbike record lists the rider traveling north and going straight; the Honda record lists the driver traveling east and going straight.
Gothamist called the two-wheeler a moped, while the Daily News described it as a gas-powered X-Motos dirt bike. Both outlets described the Honda as an Odyssey minivan driven by a 42-year-old man.
Metcalf Avenue has seen repeated crashes since 2022
The crash happened at Metcalf Avenue and East 172nd Street in Soundview, at the Bronx intersection recorded by city crash data and cited by police in press accounts.
CrashCountNYC location data for Metcalf Avenue in the Bronx shows 146 crashes, 74 injuries, 4 serious injuries and 2 deaths from Jan. 1, 2022 through June 1, 2026.
Investigators had not announced a traffic charge
ABC7 also reported that the driver remained at the scene and that no arrests had been made.
His family described plans he never reached
The Daily News reported that Quizhpi Naranjo had immigrated from Ecuador to the Bronx about three years earlier. His uncle, Juan Avendano, said the teen wanted to join the U.S. Army, and his mother, Blanca Naranjo, said the family was trying to raise money to return his body to Ecuador for burial.