4 Killed When Car Plunges Down 110-Foot Embankment

A car carrying five young co-workers plunged down a 110-foot embankment in the Hudson Valley Wednesday morning, hit a house and came to rest on its roof, killing four men inside.

Meredith McSpirit, 19, failed to make a sharp turn at an intersection, sending the car down a private drive and over a heavily vegetated embankment. It hit a house across the street and landed upside down.

“It struck it with such force that it caused structural damage,” Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said Thursday.

No one was inside the home, but the impact fractured pipes and flooded the basement. Killed were Dante Crump, 22, Kaireem Meeks Jr., 24, Jante Clark, 26, and Adam McQueen, 22. McSpirit was in stable condition at an Albany hospital with a spinal injury.

All five had just finished a shift at an equestrian show where they worked.

By midday Thursday, a crowdsourcing site set up to pay for the men’s funerals had raised more than $6,000. Deborah Izzo, who taught Crump and McQueen, pledged $100 for “my kids.”

“They believed in themselves and they were grateful for everything everybody did for them,” Izzo said. “I don’t know how any of us are going to recover.”

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the August 31st, 2015 edition of Hamodia.