Two people were killed when two vehicles crashed at a busy intersection near a Brooklyn mall Monday evening, causing an impact so powerful one of the cars split in half when it hit a nearby utility pole, police say.
The victims who died were in a Nissan Maxima heading south on Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park shortly after 6:30 p.m. when they hit a BMW turning onto Avenue U from Flatbush Avenue's northbound lanes, police say.
The Maxima's passenger, 18-year-old Christina Wipper, was pronounced dead on the scene. The driver, 20-year-old Philbert Martin Williams, was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver and the passenger in the BMW were taken to Kings County Hospital with minor injuries, police say.
It's not yet clear who had the right of way or what color the traffic light was, but several cars made the left turn onto Avenue U before the BMW, surveillance video shows.
The video, which captured the crash, shows the Maxima going much faster than other cars on Flatbush before it slammed into the BMW.
Richard Corredor, whose surveillance cameras caught the crash, said: "It's really bad. I mean, if you just look at the car, the car is in pieces wrapped around the pole. This is as bad as you can get."
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Other neighbors say the busy intersection outside Kings Plaza is dangerous and accident-prone.
"Everybody goes all kinds of speeds here," said Victor DeBiasi. "It's crazy. They should do something to slow it down."
-- Ida Siegal contributed to this report.
