Police say Shareef Bellerand, 17, was trapped in an overturned car after Gerald Joseph, 22, crashed into a fire hydrant while driving drunk in New York’s Chinatown just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
First responders cut Bellerand out of the car and rushed him to a hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries. His mom, Cindy Fabien, 41, told ABC that she warned him about getting into the car with Joseph minutes before the fatal crash.
“I said, ‘Shareef, your dad don’t like you being with this guy,’ and he said, ‘He’s OK,’ and I said, ‘You sure?’ and he said, ‘Yes Ma, and I’m O.K.,” Fabien said.
Bellerand and Fabien then joked about some headphones Bellerand still wanted. Fabien then asked her son to get back safe.
Early on Tuesday, Fabien received a call about the crash. Her son died at New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital.
Fabien told Daily News that her son loved his 2-year-old sister Kylee. He was a “fun-loving” and popular child who loved to play basketball.
“He was my first child, my first love,” Fabien said. “I’m going to miss him.”
Police say that Joseph’s 2004 Mazda crashed into a light pole and a fire hydrant. The impact of the crash tore the fire hydrant from the sidewalk and overturned the car.
Joseph was hospitalized in stable condition.
The families of Joseph and Bellerand are neighbors, but Fabien said she did not know Joseph too well.
“I’ve heard of him, but I don’t know him personally,” Fabien said of Joseph. “I can’t say I have hate or anger.”
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