3 Dead, Others Injured After Multi-Vehicle Crash On LIE In Queens

Three people, including two National Guardsmen who were best friends, were killed and 11 ­injured in a horrific chain-reaction crash on the Long Island Expressway in Maspeth, Queens, early Wednesday — and sources said it may have been sparked by a high-speed race.

A speeding 2010 black Infiniti sedan carrying five people hit a divider and spilt in half when the driver, 25-year-old Michael Fabre, lost control on the lower-level eastbound LIE as he tried to exit at Maurice Avenue at 4:20 a.m., police said.

Fabre, 25, an Army National Guard sergeant from Oakland Gardens, Queens, back-seat passengers Giovanny Sanchez, 24, a guardsman from Brentwood, LI, and Christina Formato, 24, of Franklin Square, LI, were thrown from the car and declared dead at the scene.

A 2012 Acura TL traveling in the same direction struck the front half of the Infiniti in the left lane.

Seconds after the initial crash, the driver of a dump truck approaching the scene at high speed slammed on his brakes but could not stop in time, colliding into five other vehicles that had halted behind the initial crash, cops said.

No one was seriously hurt in the second impact. All survivors from both collisions, including a woman who went into cardiac ­arrest, were taken to Elmhurst and Queens General hospitals.

“I saw a dead body lying on the street, then I saw a head sticking out of the Infiniti,” said witness Carlos Rocha, 20, a mechanic working nearby who called 911 ­after hearing the impacts. “It was a horrible scene.”

Investigators believe the ­Infiniti may have been in a speed race with the Acura involved in the wreck, sources said.

The 27-year-old Acura driver suffered only minor injuries and ­refused medical attention at the scene.

Fabre and his friends were heading home from a night out in Manhattan when disaster struck.

“I’d never think something like that could happen to him,” Fabre’s devastated father, Ismael, said of his son. “He was just a great son, a great son.”

The guardsman, who aspired to be a city correction officer, was “inseparable” from his buddy Sanchez, ­relatives said.

Fabre had just asked his girlfriend’s father for permission to marry Bianca Sagliocca, 22, two weeks earlier.

“He was just great to me and his family,” Sagliocca, who dated Fabre for four years, said through tears. “It’s bad but I know he’s ­going to be with me.”

Fabre’s stepdad, Bill Nagle, 72, called him “a perfect gentleman” and a “shining star,” adding that he’s praying for the young man’s mother.

“I don’t know if she’ll ever get over this. He was the love of her life,” said Nagle.

Fabre’s uncle Edwin Rodriguez doubted that his nephew had been speeding, saying, “Michael would drive a little fast sometimes, but people are saying he was going 100 mph. That really wasn’t like him.”

Formato, the third fatality, had worked as a secretary for the Nassau County Police Department for two years and was planning on entering grad school.

“She was the sweetest person I know. Sweetest person on Earth,” said cousin Loriane Sima. “[Her parents] couldn’t have asked for a better daughter. This is just too sad.”

A Nassau cop who worked with Formato called her “an incredible person.”

The crash caused traffic backups for miles. All lower-level eastbound lanes were closed for four hours between the 48th Street and Maurice Avenue exits.

The Queens Midtown Tunnel and the connection from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to the LIE also were temporarily shut down.