Queens Man Pleads Guilty in Deadly Southern State Crash

Jaden D’Souza, 20, of Queens, pleaded guilty March 23 to aggravated vehicular homicide in connection with a January 2025 crash on the Southern State Parkway that killed two people and seriously injured two others. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced the plea, which came more than a year after the wreck claimed the lives of D’Souza’s own sister and a close friend.

According to Donnelly’s office, D’Souza was driving on the parkway on Jan. 12, 2025, with three passengers: his sister Haily D’Souza, 21, Crystal Alba-Figueroa, 23, and another 23-year-old. Donnelly said D’Souza was under the influence of marijuana and traveling at more than 120 miles per hour when he lost control of the vehicle, left the roadway and struck a tree.

Haily D’Souza and Crystal Alba-Figueroa were both pronounced dead at the scene.

The third passenger survived but suffered severe injuries, including spinal fractures and a traumatic brain injury. That passenger was transported to Nassau University Medical Center, the same facility where D’Souza was treated for his own injuries. A tire from D’Souza’s car also struck a second vehicle on the parkway during the crash sequence, injuring that driver as well.

“This defendant, high on marijuana, handled his car like he was playing an arcade game, zipping through traffic and speeding along the bends and curves of the Southern State Parkway at more than 120 miles per hour,” Donnelly said in her statement. “His reckless disregard for his passengers, his family and friends, ended with his sister and a friend dead, and another passenger who is lucky to be alive today.”

D’Souza entered his guilty plea before Judge Caryn Fink. Donnelly has recommended a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison. Court records indicate D’Souza is expected to receive a sentence of seven to 18 years when he returns to court May 8 for sentencing.

The case draws fresh attention to a problem that law enforcement on Long Island has struggled to address in recent years. Impaired driving enforcement has grown more complicated since marijuana legalization in New York, in part because roadside chemical tests for cannabis intoxication are far less reliable than breathalyzer technology used for alcohol. Prosecutors typically rely on drug recognition experts and toxicology reports to build these cases, a process that can take months.

The financial cost to the public in cases like this one is significant and often overlooked. Emergency response, trauma care, extended hospital stays and a lengthy prosecution all carry price tags borne by Nassau County taxpayers. Nassau University Medical Center, a publicly funded facility, absorbed the initial costs of treating multiple crash victims before any insurance or liability questions were resolved.

Donnelly used the announcement to push back against what she called an epidemic of reckless driving on Long Island roads.

“Too many drivers are taking risks driving high or showing off at excessive speeds without considering the deadly consequences of their actions,” she said. “This epidemic on our roadways must end, and I hope that this prosecution serves as an example for drivers of the accountability they will face if they get behind the wheel impaired and cause a tragic crash.”

The Southern State Parkway has been the site of multiple high-speed fatalities over the years. Advocates for safer roads have repeatedly asked state and county officials to invest more in enforcement technology, including speed cameras and expanded patrols on parkway stretches that see the highest crash rates. Those conversations have stalled repeatedly in Albany over budget disagreements about who covers the cost.

D’Souza’s May 8 sentencing will close the criminal chapter of this case. Civil litigation, if any, involving the surviving passenger and the driver of the second vehicle could extend legal proceedings considerably further. For the families of Haily D’Souza and Crystal Alba-Figueroa, no court outcome changes what was lost on a January night on the Southern State Parkway at 120 miles per hour.