Hit-run BMW driver arrested for manslaughter in 2021 Queens crash

A BMW driver has turned herself in to face manslaughter charges two years after a 132-mph hit-and-run crash on the Van Wyck Expressway killed a 77-year-old woman, police sources said.

Semone Douglas surrendered Thursday to cops at the 113th Precinct stationhouse, where she was charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless driving in addition to manslaughter.

“I can’t believe this woman is turning herself in,” said Michael Olmo, the nephew of Blanche Olmo, who died in the collision. “At least it’s good news.”

Cops say Douglas was behind the wheel of a speeding BMW X6 when she rear-ended an Uber driver in a Nissan Altima on the Van Wyck Expressway near 116th Ave. about 3:20 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2021 .

Douglas’ BMW then struck a Toyota Camry before vaulting over a guardrail and landing on the expressway service road near 116th Ave., the sources said.

She managed to crawl out of the mangled wreck and ran off, according to sources.

Blanche Olmo, 77, was sitting in the back seat of the Altima and died at the scene. The Williamsburg, Brooklyn, retiree was taking an Uber to the airport to catch a flight when she was killed, heartbroken relatives said.

“She was supposed to see her son down in Florida,” Michael Olmo, 60, told the Daily News Thursday. “I still can’t believe she’s gone. She was like my second mother. Everything I achieved in my life I loved to tell her (about it) and she was ecstatic.”

Investigators suspect Douglas was drag racing when the crash occurred but never recovered enough evidence to prove their theory, police sources said.

The 38-year-old Uber driver and a 40-year-old man driving the Camry were both taken to Jamaica Hospital with minor injuries.

NYPD Collision Investigation Squad detectives quickly identified Douglas as the owner of the BMW, which had expired New Jersey plates. Douglas, who lives in Jamaica, was further linked to the fatal crash when police got a warrant for her DNA. which matched the DNA on the BMW’s exploded airbag, sources said.

A witness also identified her as the woman who fled the scene, the source said.

Olmo said his aunt worked as an administrator at Woodhull Hospital before retiring. The big-hearted woman was known as the family’s “interior decorator” and had a gift for revitalizing relatives’ homes.

“She was just loved by a lot of people, that’s all,” he said. “They had a eulogy where she lived. Everybody came from the building. Everybody talked about her. The things she’d done for them.”

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Insp. Sylvester Ge, head of the NYPD Highway District, said he hopes more New Yorkers realize violence isn’t limited to shootings.

“I want to bring an awareness to the public that reckless driving and drag racing are dangerous and irresponsible,” Ge said.

“They could cause irreversible and devastating impact to innocent people just as gun violence would. Our CIS investigators are dedicated to hold those offenders accountable and bring a small measure of closure to the victim’s family.”

Douglas’ arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was pending Thursday.

The arrest comes two days after NYPD collision investigators nabbed Melissa Rodriguez-Lopez for an eerily similar fatal Queens hit-and-run wreck.

Investigators used DNA recovered from the airbag to refute Rodriguez-Lopez’s bogus alibi in a 123-mph drag race crash on May 27 of this year. She also allegedly rear-ended an Uber, killing the passenger, and ran off. Hours later she filed a police report claiming her vehicle was stolen before the crash.