Witnesses recall fatal I490 crash, "He started driving very fast"
Nov 25, 2024
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Court paperwork obtained by News 8 reveals more about the fatal I-490 crash from Friday morning.
Driver charged with manslaughter after fatal I-490 crash, victims identified
That day, two women died after the car they were in rolled up an embankment on the Culver Road exit of I-490. 25-year-old Christopher Long Jr. was later identified by authorities as the driver and has since been charged with two counts of manslaughter.
According to a statement made by 19-year-old Alexandrea Rodriguez that day, she was one of three passengers in the car at the time.
Rodriguez explained that she and her friend, 18-year-old Skylar Swift, were drinking the night before on Instagram Live when Long Jr. commented, later asking the girls to hang out. They then were picked up by Long Jr. and taken back to his house. Her testimony said her, Swift, Long Jr. and his girlfriend, 23-year-old Aleci Lopez all started drinking sometime around 5 or 6 a.m. and that they continued to do so until about 9 a.m. Rodriguez said of Long Jr., "I'm not sure how much he drank, but it was a lot."
Rodriguez emphasized that she did not know Long Jr. or Lopez prior to that night.
Upon leaving Long Jr.'s house on the morning of Nov. 22, Rodriguez stated that he drove the three of them onto 490 adding "Chris started driving very fast, about 60 or 70 mph." She explained that his driving scared her, so she started to buckle up, and at one point, Swift started to record what was happening. Rodriguez said she and Lopez asked Long Jr. multiple times to slow down, to which she alleged he did not.
According to a separate witness statement from someone in the area, "I was approaching the Culver Road exit #19 when suddenly a blue 4-door Sedan passed me at a high rate of speed on the left-hand side. I was travelling at 50-55 mph due to the rain and believe this vehicle was traveling approximately 80 mph."
Another witness in the area who tried to help in the immediate aftermath, described Long Jr. as erratic and aggressive on scene, writing "The driver kept yelling at us to help. I told the girl in the back seat (Alexandrea Rodriguez) that help was coming, and she would be ok. I stayed with the girl in the back seat for maybe ten minutes. I was trying to calm down the driver at the same time. I told him to chill out because he was pretty frantic. The driver was more on the aggressive side."
Swift was pronounced dead on the scene. Rodriquez and Lopez were both sent to the hospital where Lopez later died as well.
Long Jr. was arrested on scene after police said he was combative with troopers. He was also treated for minor injuries and charged with two counts of manslaughter in the second degree. Long Jr. was taken to jail for arraignment, according to state police.