An aspiring Long Island rapper who debuted his first song a week ago was one of three men killed early Saturday morning in Queens when their “souped up sedan” launched off a makeshift skateboard ramp and plunged into Newtown Creek, police and a witness said.
Quameek Mack, 25, of Freeport, who performed under the name “Q-Mafia” was killed in the crash, along with Luis Cuadros, 30, of Elmhurst, police said. The third victim was not yet identified by police.
The trio was travelling westbound in a 2016 Honda Civic “at an apparent high rate of speed” on Borden Avenue in Long Island City when the driver lost control near 29th Street, slammed into a barrier and plunged into the creek, police said.
A witness told The Post that he saw the “souped-up black sedan with a modified exhaust speeding down a dead-end street.”
The vehicle “dropped gear” and the driver attempted to make a right turn, but mid-way, the vehicle went “sideways over a hefty makeshift concrete skateboarding ramp,” which launched it over a fence and into the water, the person said.
The car completely cleared the tall fence, perhaps 15 feet — and flew another 20 feet out before landing in the creek, the person continued.
“Speed was a factor in the crash,” an NYPD spokesman said.
Rescue divers and Fire Department marine units arrived within minutes. It was still dark when they pulled the men from the submerged car about 10 minutes later, the FDNY said.
Cuadros was rushed to Cornell Hospital, where he died, cops said. Mack and the unidentified passenger were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital – Queens, where they died, police said.
Mack leaves behind two children, a daughter, 4 and a son, 3, and another baby on the way, his mother, Amira Aalaam said.
“He was a family man, he loved his family,” she told The Post, describing him as “kind-hearted” and “very funny.”
Mack had previously worked in a warehouse but lost his job during the pandemic.
He had released his first song, “No Lights,” last week on YouTube and Spotify, his family said.
Cuadros’ family declined to comment.
The mangled wreck was pulled from the fetid waterway — one of the country’s most polluted, according to the Environmental Protection Agency — early Saturday afternoon.
There was no indication from officials that the men were racing, but the area is popular among speed demons because Exit 15, Van Dam Street, is the last one before the tolls of the Midtown Tunnel, so racers turn off to avoid the fee, the witness noted.
The NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad is probing the accident.
