Police set up Atlantic Avenue checkpoint after deadly crash

A temporary reminder to drive safely

August 22, 2023 Mary Frost

Following Friday morning’s fiery crash in front of Trader Joe’s in Cobble Hill, police set up a checkpoint at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. Eagle photo by Mary Frost

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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Following a fiery crash that took the life of Shanti Joyner, 18, in Cobble Hill early Friday morning, police set up a checkpoint late Monday at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, across the avenue from where the incident took place.

Officers from the 84th Precinct told the Brooklyn Eagle that the temporary checkpoint was set up to remind drivers to proceed cautiously along treacherous Atlantic Avenue.

Both drivers involved in the crash — Kashawn Croswell, 25, and the victim’s sister, Iesha Joyner, 32 — were arrested. Croswell was found to be driving recklessly and leaving the scene of an accident, among other charges, and Joyner was found to be driving while intoxicated and driving without insurance, among other charges.

Residents and community organizations have complained for years about the dangerous stretch, which functions as a highway despite cutting through pedestrian-heavy neighborhoods filled with local shops and restaurants.

“Brooklyn’s ‘Main Street’ is a place for creative merchants and wonderful restaurants. Unfortunately it’s a truck route with large trucks, a traffic nightmare much of the day and a dangerous speedway at night,” Howard Kolins, president of the Boerum Hill Association told the Eagle.