Driver falls asleep, sparking fatal crash in Queens, say police

Early Saturday, a 41-year-old woman fell asleep while behind the wheel, sparking a fatal car crash in Queens.

Poice reported that the crash killed one of her passengers.

The woman was driving a blue Mazda 3 north on the Cross Island Parkway near the Hempstead Ave. exit in Queens Village about 2:30 a.m. when she nodded off, cops said.

The Mazda changed direction off the road and slammed into a tree off the roadway which was just feet from a Queens street.

Cops said a man in the passenger seat was thrown from the vehicle and landed on the ground. He died at the scene.

Inside the mangled vehicle, officers found the car’s driver and her 17-year-old niece unconscious.

The woman suffered a fractured rib and was taken to Manhasset Hospital, where she was listed in critical but stable condition, cops said.

Her niece suffered a broken ankle and was treated at Long Island Jewish Children’s Hospital.

The man who died remained unidentified Saturday.