A 28-year-old man from East New York was sentenced to an indeterminate term of three to nine years for a 2023 crash in Downtown Brooklyn. Prosecutors said the crash, which involved speeding and running a red light, resulted in the death of a 21-year-old mother and injuries to three others. The sentencing was handed down by a Brooklyn judge last Friday.
Conviction and sentence
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office identified the defendant as 28-year-old Kashawn Croswell. According to a press release from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, he was convicted on January 22 and later sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jane Tully to an indeterminate term of three to nine years in prison.
Jurors found Croswell guilty of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, reckless driving, excessive speed and disobeying traffic control signal indications. The DA’s office said the charges reflected a pattern of choices that turned a late-night drive into a deadly collision.
How prosecutors say the crash unfolded
Prosecutors say the crash happened at about 3:21 a.m. on August 18, 2023, as Croswell headed south on Court Street at roughly 60 miles per hour. They allege he ran three consecutive steady red lights before entering the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue at an estimated 62 miles per hour and T-boning a westbound car that had the right of way, killing front-seat passenger 21-year-old Shanti Joyner. Those details were reported by the Brooklyn Eagle.
After the impact
According to prosecutors, Croswell got out of his vehicle after the collision and pulled his 24-year-old girlfriend from the passenger seat as his car later caught fire. They allege he then attempted to leave the scene, dragging her for about a block and a half while asking passing motorists if they were Uber drivers, before police found him on Pacific Street. The girlfriend was hospitalized with a spinal fracture, and other occupants of the struck vehicle suffered fractures, according to local reporting that summarized prosecutors' account shortly after the crash. Shore News Network later covered the sentencing notice.
Family reaction and trial footage
Outside court during earlier proceedings, Joyner’s mother said her daughter “died in that car” and left behind a one-year-old child, adding that the family hoped the trial would bring some measure of closure. News 12 Brooklyn reported that jurors were shown body-camera footage of officers questioning Croswell while medics treated his girlfriend during the trial.
Prosecutors' view
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement that the defendant made a series of reckless and deliberate decisions that had deadly consequences. Prosecutors noted that the office’s Digital Evidence Lab helped reconstruct the sequence of traffic lights and vehicle speeds leading up to the crash, and that the case was handled by members of the Blue Zone Trial Bureau.
Where this fits in the city's safety push
City officials and traffic-safety advocates have long warned that speeding and red-light running remain a serious threat on busy corridors, particularly overnight when drivers may be tempted to push the limits. New York’s Vision Zero program focuses on street redesign, targeted enforcement and education in an effort to cut down on those kinds of crashes.
The city's Vision Zero materials describe a mix of engineering, enforcement and outreach aimed at curbing dangerous driving behaviors and addressing high-risk intersections. Vision Zero is the city's long-running initiative on that front.
What the sentence means
The court’s indeterminate three-to-nine-year sentence establishes both minimum and maximum terms of incarceration, with parole authorities determining when Croswell may be released after serving the minimum. His conviction followed a jury trial in January. Prosecutors stated that the sentence reflects the severity of Joyner’s death and the broader risks of high-speed red-light violations in busy city intersections.
For Joyner’s family, the outcome represents a measure of accountability. For neighborhood safety advocates, it highlights the serious and lasting consequences of running a red light at high speed.
