DeWitt, NY (August 19, 2026) — Two people died in a wreck early on Wednesday morning, August 19, in DeWitt’s Franklin Park neighborhood, according to police. An officer in the area heard the impact and found the vehicle after searching the neighborhood.
Police found a damaged gray 2026 Kia sedan on Franklin Park Drive with two adults dead inside. Their names have not been released.
The car, which was registered out of the Bronx, appeared to have crossed the center line, left the road, and struck a tree, police said.
Franklin Park Drive was closed for hours while police investigated; it has since reopened. Anyone with surveillance footage of the car or the neighborhood prior to the incident is asked to contact the police.
The exact cause of the collision remained under investigation as this report was filed. Our thoughts are with both victims’ families during this difficult time.
Why Hitting a Tree Can Be More Severe Than Hitting Another Car
When two vehicles collide, some of the force is absorbed as both vehicles move, crumple, and sometimes slide apart afterward. A fixed object like a tree doesn’t give in that same way. It stays essentially in place, which means nearly all of the energy from the hit has to be absorbed by the vehicle alone rather than being shared between two moving objects.
Trees also concentrate force onto a very narrow point of contact, unlike a broad, flat barrier that spreads the force across a wider area of a vehicle’s frame. That narrow point of contact can cause a vehicle’s structure to fold or collapse inward right where the tree made contact, sometimes intruding into the space where occupants are sitting.
This is part of why traffic engineers increasingly focus on what’s sometimes called forgiving roadside design, which includes removing unnecessary fixed objects near roads, adding breakaway supports, or installing guardrails in front of hazards like trees or utility poles in high-risk locations.
