Incident location, Long Island
What Happened
A Huntington motorcyclist was killed during Friday evening’s rush hour in Melville after he attempted to pass an SUV on Round Swamp Road and struck its bumper, launching him from his motorcycle before the bike burst into flames, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The crash claimed the life of Anees Khan, 38, of Huntington, and left the two occupants of the SUV — both elderly Plainview residents — physically unharmed.
The sequence of events unfolded at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Friday, May 23, 2026, as Khan was riding his 2023 Ducati motorcycle in a southbound direction on Round Swamp Road near the intersection with Hilltop Drive in Melville. According to a news release issued by the Suffolk County Police Department and reported by Newsday, Khan attempted to pass a 2022 Kia Seltos SUV that was also traveling southbound in the same lane or adjacent lane ahead of him. The maneuver went fatally wrong: Khan’s Ducati struck the right rear bumper of the Kia Seltos, a compact crossover SUV.
The force of the impact threw Khan from his motorcycle, according to the police department’s account published by Newsday. After Khan was separated from the bike, the 2023 Ducati caught fire at the crash scene. Emergency responders declared Khan dead at the scene — he did not survive to be transported to a hospital. Police did not specify in their release whether Khan was wearing a helmet or any other protective gear at the time of the crash.
The driver of the 2022 Kia Seltos and his passenger — both 85 years old and residents of nearby Plainview — were not injured in the collision, police said. The identities of the Kia’s occupants were not released by the department. It is not known from the official release whether the Kia driver was aware Khan was attempting to pass him at the time of the impact, or whether any evasive action was taken by either party before contact was made.
The crash took place during the height of Friday’s evening rush hour, a period that sees some of the highest traffic volumes of the week on Long Island’s surface roads. Round Swamp Road is a heavily traveled north-south corridor in western Suffolk County, passing through residential and commercial areas between Bethpage and Melville. The proximity of the crash to the Hilltop Drive intersection placed it in a stretch of Round Swamp Road that is routinely busy with commuter and local traffic during evening hours.
No charges had been announced by the Suffolk County Police Department at the time of the initial reporting. The investigation into the crash remained ongoing.
Location & Road Context
Round Swamp Road is a key north-south arterial in the Town of Huntington’s portion of western Suffolk County, connecting communities from Old Bethpage northward through Farmingdale Road territory and into the Melville corridor. The area near Hilltop Drive sits in a stretch that serves both local residential neighborhoods and commuter traffic heading toward major east-west routes, including the Long Island Expressway and Route 110. The corridor has seen significant traffic activity in recent weeks — just miles from this crash site, a sinkhole shut down Long Island Expressway lanes at Route 110 in mid-May 2026, adding to area-wide congestion patterns. Suffolk County roads in this zone carry a substantial volume of motorcycle traffic during warmer months, particularly on Friday evenings when recreational riders join commuters on the roadway.
Broader Impact
The fatal crash on Round Swamp Road is a stark reminder of the disproportionate risk motorcyclists face during passing maneuvers in mixed traffic. According to a Newsday investigation into Long Island traffic fatalities, a crash causing death, injury, or significant property damage occurs on Long Island every seven minutes on average — and between 2014 and 2023, more than 2,100 people were killed and more than 16,000 seriously injured in traffic crashes across the island. Khan’s death adds to that toll during what is historically one of the deadliest seasons of the year for motorcyclists, as warmer weather brings more two-wheeled riders onto roads that are shared with drivers who may not anticipate their presence or speed.