Before Crash That Killed 5, Dad Urged Son Not To Drive Without License

SCARSDALE, NY — The father of the teenage driver in a Hudson Valley crash Sunday that killed five children acknowledged this week that he knew his son had been driving without a license or permit, and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families reportedly interviewed the family earlier this year.

According to Westchester County officials Malik Smith, 16, was not a licensed driver, nor did he have a learner's permit, when the rental car he was driving veered off the Hutchinson River Parkway around 12:20 a.m. Sunday in Scarsdale. The car struck a boulder, struck a tree and then burst into flames.

In addition to Smith, Anthony Billips Jr., 17, Zahnyiah Cross, 12, Shawnell Cross, 11, and Andrew Billips, 8, were killed. Abraham Billips, 9, was the sole survivor, crawling out of the back window that had shattered in the crash.

Malik Smith, father of the 16-year-old Smith, told CBS2 he knew his son didn't have a learner's permit and even urged him to stop driving without a license.

“Yeah, I was,” Smith told the TV station. “I told him, his mother told him, his older brothers told him, stop driving without a license, without a permit. Anything happens, you get pulled over, you get in trouble for these things. Stop doing this.”

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families spoke with the Billips and Cross children after being asked by the New York Child Protective Services, CT Post reported. The agency was trying to locate the family and followup on information the agency was given, a spokesperson said. It wasn't immediately known why the family was involved with child protective services in New York.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said Monday that he drove through the location just two hours before the accident.

“This was a horrific accident,” he said at a news conference. “It was a horrific accident site.”

The area where the accident happened on the parkway curves to the left and goes downhill, Latimer said. It appeared Smith did not negotiate the curve.

Investigators believe Smith was distracted or fell asleep, he said.

Smith was reportedly enrolled in a high school in Brooklyn. A vigil was held there Monday night, CT Post reported.

Matt Conway, the superintendent of schools in Derby, Connecticut, said the children recently moved to the area from New York, but had not enrolled in the district.