A motorcyclist and his passenger were killed Thursday evening when a chain-reaction crash on the Grand Central Parkway in Briarwood ejected both riders onto the pavement. It is the third fatal motorcycle crash in Queens under active NYPD investigation since July 2.

Around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, a man riding a 2022 CF Moto motorcycle was traveling eastbound on the Grand Central Parkway in Briarwood, approaching the Jackie Robinson Parkway exit at the Kew Gardens Interchange, when he lost control. His bike struck a white BMW X1, then a blue Ford Explorer — ejecting both the rider and his female passenger onto the pavement. The riderless CF Moto continued east, striking a Chevrolet Express van and then a Chrysler Town and Country van before coming to rest.

The motorcyclist sustained severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS. His passenger was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead there. Five other people at the scene were evaluated by EMS; three were transported to area hospitals in stable condition with minor injuries. The 112th Precinct responded to the 911 call. The identities of the two killed are being withheld pending family notification.

The NYPD Highway District's Collision Investigation Squad — the unit that reconstructs fatal crashes — is investigating. No arrests have been made.

It is the third fatal motorcycle crash in Queens under active CIS review since the first of the month. On July 2, Jorge Alcibiades Palaquibay-Lima, 31, of Elmhurst, was killed when his 2017 Kawasaki struck a box truck making a right turn onto 64th Street on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside; he was a married father of three who worked for a local construction company. On the morning of July 11, Douglas Simon, 45, of Rosedale, lost control of his Yamaha R6 on North Conduit Avenue near 159th Street in Springfield Gardens and was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. No arrests have been made in either earlier crash.

Three crashes. Three separate precincts. Three boroughwide neighborhoods — Woodside, Springfield Gardens, Briarwood. The CIS is carrying all of them simultaneously, and none have resulted in an arrest.