A man convicted of causing a fiery crash that killed a father and his two children on Long Island in 2015 was given the maximum sentence on Tuesday.
Oneil Sharpe Jr. was sentenced to 36 years in prison. The judge told him he had a responsibility to stay at the scene of the fiery crash, but watched the victims die, turned and ran.
The wife and mother of the victims, Lucnie Ostane, left court without comment, but during the sentencing she tried to help Sharpe understand the impact of his actions.
She told him that "I could have been a sister to you... a cousin. You have destroyed your sister's life, your cousin's life."
Back in 2015, Ostane told News 4 she was without hope after the crash that killed her husband, 8-year-old son Andy and 4-year-old daughter Sephora.
Ostane managed to escape the flaming vehicle, but her cries for help went unanswered as Sharpe left the scene in a friend's car, according to prosecutors, who said Sharpe retrieved a tequila bottle from his car and threw it in the woods before leaving the scene.
"Here's a family burning to death, screaming," Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota said. "And what did he do? He was throwing the evidence of his crime away."
Prosecutors estimated Sharpe was intoxicated when he rear-ended the family's SUV with his BMW in July 2015 on the Southern State Parkway. They said he was traveling at 90 mph and was racing another vehicle when he crashed.
Sharpe was convicted last month of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter and other charges.
His lawyer said he's a man of God who prays for the family every night and can't forgive himself.
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Prosecutors weren't persuaded.
"I portray him as a guy who didn't care," Spota said. "I don't care what his attorney says, how contrite they say he is."
