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Four people, a father along with his 12-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son and 6-year-old granddaughter, were killed in a single-vehicle crash on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa on Aug. 6. Pat Huntley, 61, was outside with his children and grandson were celebrating a new job when a speeding car slammed into the back of their SUV while it was stopped at a traffic light. He, his daughter Ana and his son Jeremiah died in the accident; his granddaughter Chantel Solomon died less than a week later. Michael DeAngelo was arrested after police said he was high on cocaine and fentanyl while driving more than 120 mph just seconds before the crash.
NEW YORK — The driver accused of killing four members of the same family in a crash on Long Island was indicted on a series of charges after allegedly driving more than 120 mph while using cocaine and fentanyl, the district attorney announced.
At his arraignment Wednesday, Michael DeAngelo showed no emotion as he faced more than 30 counts of a dozen different charges, the most serious of which included aggravated vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter and assault.
DeAngelo was arrested in August for the deadly Aug. 6 incident on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa that claimed the lives of a father, two of his children and his granddaughter. DeAngelo, 32, crashed into the rear of the vehicle driven by Patrice Huntley, 61, who was stopped in the center lane at a red light outside a shopping center, police said.
Huntley, her 12-year-old daughter Hannah and 11-year-old son Jeremiah died in the crash that crushed the truck like an aluminum can. Huntley and her daughter Hannah were pronounced dead at the scene. Jeremiah was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Chantel Solomon, 6, and Huntley’s daughter Brienna Peoples, 18, were taken to the hospital in critical condition with what police called “extreme internal injuries,” including a brain hemorrhage. Chantel died six days later; Peoples was left with critical injuries, from which prosecutors say she may never recover.
“Patrice Huntley and three children, members of the same family, died due to the extraordinarily reckless actions of a defendant who was allegedly driving 120 miles per hour while under the influence of cocaine and fentanyl,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “No one was safe on Sunrise Highway that Sunday night and tragically, Patrice, Jeremiah, Hannah and Chantel lost their lives while going to get ice cream. “No family should have to bury four loved ones at the same time.”
Another of Huntley’s sons, David, 14, was in the front seat and miraculously survived, suffering injuries to his back and ribs, but is expected to survive. He walked away from the accident before collapsing on the road. He said the car that hit them was running in the street before the accident, according to his mother, who spoke to NBC New York in the days immediately after the accident.
The children and Huntley were out celebrating their new job and were on their way to buy ice cream when the car rear-ended them. The district attorney’s office previously said the fatal crash was “one of the worst tragedies in recent memory on Long Island.”
Investigators have said the driver of the speeding Hyundai, DeAngelo, crashed into the back of Huntley’s pickup truck, which then crashed into the car in front before overturning and crashing into another vehicle at the traffic light. First responders had to work on several cars, and at one point cut metal off a vehicle to get inside.
The driver of the Chevrolet Malibu in front of Huntley, an 83-year-old man, was injured and treated at the hospital. The driver of the third car hit, 33, refused medical attention at the scene.
DeAngelo suffered compound ankle fractures and other injuries in the crash that sent his vehicle flying and his car landing upside down, and his attorney said he had undergone multiple surgeries as a result. In August, police said that just one second before the crash, he was traveling 120.5 mph; he did not hit the brakes until less than half a second before impact, and had only slowed to approximately 95 mph before causing the impact.
It was unclear where DeAngelo was before the crash, but he had been arrested twice before, twice for DUI, prosecutors said. Another arrest occurred just days before the deadly crash, according to prosecutors, when DeAngelo was charged with drug possession.
The district attorney said Wednesday that DeAngelo had visible signs of recent drug use, including marks on his arm and hands, and was under the influence of fentanyl and cocaine on the day of the crash. Needles and a pipe were said to have been found in and around his vehicle after the accident.
DeAngelo was remanded in custody and was not granted bail during Thursday’s hearing; Bail had previously been set at $500,000. His next court appearance is scheduled for October 19. If he is convicted of the charges, DeAngelo faces up to 25 years in prison.
“This guy was arrested two other times for the same recklessness. We have to put an end to the number of lives that are going to be lost,” said Empress Adama Kafentse Huntley, Patrice’s cousin.
The mother who lost her 12-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son in the crash spoke to NBC New York in the days after the horrific incident, sharing her outsized grief.
“This is so terrible, it’s such a terrible tragedy,” Tasheba Hamilton told NBC New York by phone. “It almost killed me having to hug my son, his body was cold… I just couldn’t imagine how this could have happened.”
Tragedy doesn’t begin to describe the pain he faces. Hamilton lost his daughter Hannah and his son Jeremiah in the accident. His daughter Brienna and granddaughter Chantel were seriously injured and may never recover from their injuries.
“I’ll never be the same, my other kids will never be the same,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she learned about the accident from a stranger who called her from the scene.
“I said ‘Who is this?’ He said, ‘Your daughter and your family have been in an accident,’ and he said, ‘I witnessed it all, you have to come quick, it’s really bad,'” Hamilton told NBC 4.
It was his daughter Brienna who begged the man to call her mother.
A photo from April shows all the family members together at Hamilton’s mother’s funeral, and it was one of the last times Hamilton was with all of his children and his father.
Hamilton said Huntley, of Flushing, Queens, was a loving father and veterans advocate, a retired Marine who helped veterans find employment (his new job they had been celebrating was director of veterans services at Medgar Evers College). His daughter Hannah loved to paint and make artwork, he said, and her son loved video games, like many others his age.
The grieving mother wants the driver to face consequences, but knows that won’t bring her family back.
“That’s not going to bring my kids back,” she said through tears. “There are no words for the pain I feel, I break down in public wherever I go. I still don’t believe my son and daughter are gone.”
The mother had a message for Deangelo, as well as his attorney.
“I spent this morning screaming because of the pain I’m going through,” Hamilton said. “I want that lawyer of yours when he’s thinking about defending someone to think about his own family, this is just disgusting… Can you imagine what we’re going through and then coming home every day to an empty house and all the noise? And “Is the talk gone? I’m going through a lot.”
2023-09-21 02:14:50
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