According to a recent study, 21 individuals, including at least four children, have died in a series of catastrophic car accidents on Long Island so far this month.
According to WCBS-TV, three of the deadly victims passed away just this past weekend. Local news sources identified them as driver Christopher W. McGuckin, 54, who passed away from his injuries after crashing his car and losing control in Port Jefferson Station, motorcyclist Gabriel Reyes, 50, who died in a head-on collision in Brentwood, and Olivia Montgomery, 20, who died in an accident in East Moriches.
Jeremiah and Hannah Huntley, who were 10 and 13 years old, respectively, as well as their father Patrice Huntley, 60, perished earlier this month, when a driver, who was allegedly unter the influence of drugs, slammed into them.
The family’s youngest child, Chantel Solomon, 6, later passed away from her injuries, according to sources.
According to a criminal complaint, a blood test showed that the driver, 32-year-old Michael Deangelo, had both fentanyl and cocaine in his system. The mother of Jeremiah and Hannah, Tasheba Hamilton-Huntley, told WCBS through tears: „Nothing is going to bring my children or my family back.“ „How is he driving at 120 mph in a shopping center with cocaine and fentanyl in his system?“
A few hours later, a drunk driver tragically struck 6-year-old Katerine Vanegas-Hernandez on the Hempstead Turnpike close to the Westminster Road intersection in West Hempstead, according to investigators.
The driver, Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez, 18, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault, and DWI, according to the police.
His blood-alcohol-level was double the legal limit. According to WCBS, the number of fatalities on Long Island’s streets and highways each month is on average 19, according to data gathered by the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research. But since two 14-year-old tennis prodigies, Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein, wurden killed in a collision with a drunk pick-up truck driver in May, the average monthly figure has increased by 24 percent, according to the network.
In West Hempstead, a traffic signal was just installed at a junction where several people have been seriously injured or killed, including 12-year-old Thomas Molina, who passed away in October, according to WCBS.A
According to Nassau County Legislator John Giuffre, authorities started looking at measures to increase pedestrian safety there soon after the collision. Nassau County Legislator William Gaylor told the network that „today begins the first day of addressing safety concerns in this corridor.“
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
