Maspeth, N.Y. - Three people are dead and 11 others injured after a multi-vehicle crash early Wednesday morning on the Long Island Expressway in Queens.

Investigators say it happened just before 4:30 a.m. on the east-bound lower level near Maurice Avenue in Maspeth.

Police and a witness say an Infinity was traveling at a high rate of speed and hit a divider with such force, the car spit in two.

Three people were thrown from the vehicle and died.

Police say four additional vehicles, including a dump truck, crashed when they approached the scene.

"Cars just kept coming and crashing into each other and then I ran from there and then we tried to help those guys right here," said one witness.

One man, lucky to be alive, hugged his father afterwards at the scene. He says he was alone in his black Acura when he became blinded by debris and smoke and crashed into half of the split Infinity.
 
All of the injured were taken to Elmhurst and Queens General hospitals.
 
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown was on scene Wednesday, weighing whether criminal charges were warranted.
 
The accident investigation forced the closure of the Long Island Expressway eastbound but investigators were able to get some traffic flowing within a couple hours of the wreck.