Investigators are exploring whether a vehicle recall or other factors are to blame for a fiery, single-car crash that killed the driver.
Police say Brittany Alfarone, 25, of Yonkers, was driving by herself when the accident occurred Thursday at around 11 p.m. near Palmer Road and Gramercy Avenue in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Yonkers. Authorities believe Alfarone's two-door Chevy Cobalt went off the road, slammed into a guardrail and immediately burst into flames.
The car was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Crews worked quickly to extinguish the flames, but they said Alfarone was already dead. "It was obvious no one could survive the scene that we pulled up on," said Yonkers Fire Department Assistant Chief Michael Murphy.
Some witnesses who were driving behind Alfarone said she had been driving erratically, hitting the gas and then braking several times while crossing the center line of a two-lane road a few times before crashing.
Her 2006 Chevy Cobalt is the subject of a General Motors recall for faulty ignition switches. Investigators plan to reconstruct the accident and are reviewing video to determine the cause of the crash.
According to her Facebook page, Alfarone worked as a manager at Bar-Lee's Wine and Whiskey Bar in Mamaroneck, where many of her co-workers were too distraught to speak on camera.
It is unclear where Alfarone was coming from or heading to at the time of the crash.