Mercedes-Benz driver rear-ends disabled Ford on Major Deegan, killing a
A Mercedes-Benz driver rear-ended Darryl Mathis Jr.'s disabled Ford on the Major Deegan Expressway, killing the 39-year-old, police said.
What We Know
According to the police report, a driver in a Mercedes sedan traveling southbound on the Major Deegan Expressway hit the rear of a 2009 Ford sedan at 3:47 a.m. in the Bronx. The 39-year-old man driving the Ford died at the scene from injuries to his entire body. Police recorded driver inattention and unsafe speed for the Mercedes driver in this overnight crash.
A stopped Ford was hit before dawn
The city crash record places the fatal crash at 3:47 a.m. on March 22, 2025, on the Major Deegan Expressway and records two sedans involved, with one motorist killed.
On the southbound Major Deegan near Fordham Road
The crash happened on the southbound Major Deegan Expressway near West Fordham Road in University Heights. Gothamist reported that Mathis' Ford had come to a stop between the acceleration and right lanes, placing the crash in a high-speed highway setting rather than on a local street.
ABC7 reported that all southbound lanes were closed at Fordham Road while officers investigated.
Darryl Mathis Jr. was remembered in New York and New Jersey nightlife
Police identified the driver who died as Darryl Mathis of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Daily News identified him as Darryl Mathis Jr. and reported that friends knew him in the nightlife industry as Maybach Swagg.
Friend and business associate Cornelius Whitaker told the Daily News that Mathis had been stranded after his car battery died and had called friends for help before the crash. Whitaker described Mathis as a Newark native, club promoter and ambassador for a champagne line associated with rapper Rick Ross, and said Mathis tried to connect young people and gang members with opportunities in nightlife work.
Police searched for the driver who left the scene
Gothamist reported that the NYPD was looking for a man in a blue jacket who left the scene on foot after the crash, and ABC7 also reported that the Mercedes-Benz driver fled on foot. The Daily News' later account said the driver sped off, creating a disagreement in the published accounts about how the driver left.
Police had not announced an arrest by March 24, and Gothamist reported that the NYPD Highway District's Collision Investigation Squad was still investigating.