Prosecutors say the driver who crashed into a Long Island nail salon, killing an NYPD officer and three others, had been chugging booze behind a supermarket before crashing at 78 mph.
Steven Schwary, 64, had been walking around town for more than five hours, sipping Montebello Long Island Iced Teas, before the horrific accident, after which he yelled at emergency responders, “Get me out of here…I’m a Marine!”, the Suffolk County coroner’s office said in a statement Thursday.
Prosecutors say Schwary had been a regular at the local liquor store for at least 14 years, often stopping there twice a day to buy two bottles of Monte Bello — the same fatal cocktail that led to the shocking crash that was caught on video on June 28.
The court was told two alcohol bottles were found in the car after the fatal crash.
“The defendant drove for five and a half hours around Deer Park, driving behind the Stop & Shop, then skirting roadways, taking five sidewalks and narrowly avoiding traffic,” Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bopp told the judge.
“He ran four stop signs and five crosswalks at an incredible speed, narrowly missing two pedestrians and passing so close that a woman’s hair can be seen on video flying into the air.”
A 2020 Chevrolet Traverse was traveling 78 mph when it crashed into Hawaii Nail & Spa, Bopp said.
Schwary lied to police, saying he had drunk 18 bottles of beer in the hours before the crash, but said he had drunk stronger alcohol that he had purchased at 10.30am on the day of the fatal crash.
“No beer cans were found in his room. [at the Commack Motor Inn]”There was an empty bottle of Monte Bello in the room and nothing else,” he said.
The shocking accident, which was captured on security camera, killed off-duty New York Police Officer Emilia Renhack, 31, who had gone to the nail salon for a wedding scheduled for later that day.
Three other people were also killed: Chen Jiancai (37), Xu Yan (41) and Zhang Meizi (40).
Among those injured in the drunk driving crash was a 12-year-old girl who suffered a severely broken ankle that required surgery and “metal devices implanted in her leg,” according to prosecutors.
One of the injured was airlifted by helicopter from the scene to undergo emergency hip surgery.
Schwary appeared in Suffolk County Court on a drunk driving charge on July 1, with Lenhack’s newlywed husband, NYPD Detective Carl Lenhack, in attendance.
He was indicted on second-degree murder and other charges by a Suffolk County jury on Tuesday and appeared in court Thursday on a 38-count indictment.
He was seen in court repeatedly clapping his hands as if washing them.
Hundreds of people gathered to mourn Lenhack at his funeral in New Hyde Park on July 6.
Prosecutors said Schwary admitted to police that he had drunk 18 beers in the hours before the fatal crash, and he is being held on $1 million bail until his next court appearance on July 19.
Previous records show Schwarie was also arrested on March 25, 2013, in Dix Hills on a charge of drunk driving.
In that incident, he crashed into a mailbox on Weathervane Way and continued driving, but was arrested by officers at a nearby intersection after falling asleep with the keys in the ignition.
Schwarie pleaded guilty in that case and received three years’ probation, records show.
