Unlicensed driver charged after passenger dies in Brooklyn crash
City records list unsafe speed in the Feb. 27 crash at Van Sinderen and Blake avenues, where prosecutors say Tyree Epps drove through a stop sign, hit a school bus and left passenger Imani Vance fatally injured.
What We Know
At about 1:16 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2025, a driver in a southbound sedan and a driver in an eastbound school bus were involved in a crash at Van Sinderen Avenue and Blake Avenue in Brooklyn. City records list unsafe speed, one motorist killed and one motorist injured. Police and prosecutors identified the sedan driver as Tyree Epps and said he drove through a stop sign at excessive speed before the impact. His passenger, 26-year-old Imani Vance, was fatally injured, and the school bus driver was hurt. Prosecutors later charged Epps with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, speeding, driving without a license, disobeying stop signs and leaving the scene without reporting.
Police and prosecutors described a high-speed stop-sign crash
The crash was recorded at 1:16 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2025, at Van Sinderen Avenue and Blake Avenue in Brooklyn. City records list one motorist killed and one motorist injured.
Police and prosecutors said Tyree Epps was driving south in a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 when he went through a stop sign at Blake Avenue and hit the rear driver's side of an eastbound 2019 Blue Bird school bus. The force of the impact pushed the school bus into an unoccupied parked box truck.
Imani Vance died in the front passenger seat
City records identify the person killed as a 26-year-old front-seat passenger. News reports, citing police and prosecutors, identified her as Imani Vance.
The Daily News reported that medics took Vance to Brookdale University Hospital after she suffered severe head trauma. amNY, citing the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, reported that she was pronounced dead from blunt impact injuries to her torso and a laceration to her heart.
Family and future plans
The Daily News reported that Vance had recently returned to New York after living in Virginia and had hoped to enroll in nursing school while working three jobs. Her family started a fundraiser to help pay for funeral costs.
The crash happened on a Blake Avenue corridor with repeated harm
The recorded crash location was Van Sinderen Avenue at Blake Avenue in Brooklyn's 11207 ZIP code.
CrashCountNYC's Blake Avenue street context counted 580 crashes, 410 injuries, 23 serious injuries and 2 deaths on Blake Avenue in Brooklyn from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Records and charges focus on speed, a stop sign and licensing
City crash data lists unsafe speed as a contributing factor. The vehicle record for the sedan also lists traffic control disregarded, and records the sedan driver as unlicensed.
Prosecutors charged Epps with speeding, driving without a license and disobeying stop signs, along with homicide and leaving-scene counts. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Vance's death was allegedly caused by Epps's decision to ignore a stop sign and drive at excessive speeds.