Crackdown on Speeding Followed Fatal New City Accident

In the wake of the Super Bowl Sunday accident that claimed two lives on Strawtown Road in New City, Clarkstown Police conducted a crackdown on speeding in the area.

Capt. Anthony Ovchinnikoff said Strawtown Road was targeted as part of Clarkstown's Operation Slowdown for the month of March. Since the fatal accident in February, he said town police officers have issued 47 tickets in the area.

Alcohol and excessive speed have been found to be key factors in the deadly Super Bowl Sunday night crash that killed the two Congers residents in the car, according to Clarkstown police detectives.

The crash left shredded wreckage just feet from a home at the corner of Strawtown Road and Cairnsmuir Lane in New City, where the car had hit a sign post on Strawtown Road and then slammed into a tree on the front lawn of 112 Strawtown Road around 11:25 p.m.

Clarkstown detectives said a beer bottle was found in the wreckage of the accident and tests by the Rockland County Medical Examiner's Office found the driver was intoxicated. The crash killed driver Esmin Ljesnjanin, 23, and passenger Gjon Kolnrekaj, 26.

An accident investigation by Clarkstown police, according to detectives, concluded that the driver was speeding as the car traveled northbound on Strawtown Road. The speed limit in the area is 30 MPH.

The car was moving well above the speed limit, but detectives say they have been unable to determine the exact speed of the car at the time of the crash. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.

Police believe that the driver lost control of the car on a slight bend in the road on Strawtown Road just before Cairnsmuir Lane.

Operation Slowdown was initiated by Clarkstown in respsonse to complaints about speeding in neighborhoods throughout the town. Each month the special traffic enforcement effort moves to a new location, with town officers focusing on catching speeders and finding overly aggressive drivers.

Ovchinnikoff noted that Operation Slowdown has found in some neighborhoods the drivers who are speeding are residents of that same neighborhood. Clarkstown Police urger drivers to obey speed limits posted throughout the town, and drive safely.