Woman killed in Queens parkway crash ‘like family’ to driver charged with manslaughter

A young woman who died in a speeding car that flipped over on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens was like family to the four people she was riding with — including the impaired driver, who is now facing a manslaughter charge, cops and one of the crash survivors said Monday.

Arianna Arregui, 23, was sitting in the middle backseat of the out-of-control Honda Accord that overturned in Astoria early Sunday as the group was returning to Brooklyn from a friend’s birthday celebration, according to one of the surviving passengers.

“Arianna was like family to us,” said the passenger, who declined to give her name but is a cousin of the arrested driver, Anthony Dickson. “The whole car was family. It’s just unfortunate.”

Dickson, 34, was going west in the right lane of the Grand Central Parkway when he crashed under the Steinway St. overpass in Astoria about 4:10 a.m., cops said.

The vehicle’s left rear wheel struck the left curb line dividing the highway, causing the driver to lose control, police said.  The vehicle skidded sideways, overturned, and struck a light pole.

Dickson, who was not hurt, was taken into police custody and later charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while ability impaired.

At Dickson’s arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Monday, prosecutors said he appeared intoxicated at the scene and later admitted to smoking marijuana.

“His eyes were glassy, his speech was slurred, he was not in control of the vehicle,” said Queens ADA Angel Semerdzhiev, who added that investigators are waiting on the results of a urine test.

Dozens of relatives for both the victim and the defendant were in attendance as Judge Thomas Wright-Fernandez set Dickson’s bail at $30,000 cash, $100,000 bond.

“We all used to hang out. I don’t understand it. This could have been any of us,” said a relative of Dickson’s, who asked to remain anonymous.

The victim lived less than a mile from Dickson in Bushwick.

“She had no malice. She was a living angel,” the victim’s mother, 53-year-old Joannie Rivera, told the Daily News at the Queens courthouse. “I’m trying to figure out how everybody else lived, and she was the only one who died.”

Arregui graduated earlier this year from Brooklyn College with a degree in biology and was working in a lab developing a plant-based cement, her mother said. She leaves behind three brothers and one sister.

“She was our baby girl,” said Rivera. “She was everybody’s baby girl and everybody’s favorite girl.

The driver’s cousin described Dickson as hard-working and family-oriented. His wife, who was sitting up front, was among the crash survivors.

“He’s extremely loving. Extremely family-oriented. He’ll do anything for us,” the cousin said. “He worked two jobs. Make sure everybody was good. He’s one of the closest people to me. Anything I need.”

Of her young friend who died, she said the victim was outspoken and outgoing.

“She went out happy. We were happy. We had a great night,” the cousin said. “Her outfit, she looked so good. She looked beautiful.”

She said they had been like sisters as long as she could remember. Arregui even accompanied the driver’s cousin’s family on a trip to their family home in Grenada.

“She’s been in my life my whole entire life,” the cousin said. “It’s a tremendous loss for everyone … She just graduated college. She just got a haircut.”

Cops initially thought that Arregui had been ejected from the car but later learned that Dickson pulled her out of the car after the crash.

Arregui was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital with severe head and body injuries. She died there a short time later. The other three passengers suffered minor injuries or were not hurt at all.

Dickson claimed he was sideswiped, police sources said, but investigators determined the damage was not consistent with that.

Police said Dickson has one prior moving violation. His defense attorney said this is his first arrest.