A 22-year-old Long Island man was arraigned Monday on grand jury indictment charges for allegedly killing three members of a family and injuring another three in an alcohol-fueled high-speed crash earlier this year, prosecutors said.
Dante Lennon was allegedly speeding and too drunk to drive when his Mercedes Benz broadsided a Lincoln Town Car, then rear-ended a parked pickup truck on Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park on May 21. The family had just left a Sweet Sixteen.
The force of the impact killed three women -- the grandmother, aunt and cousin of the girl who just celebrated her 16th birthday. Two of the victims, 66-year-old Marlene Liu and 68-year-old Ho Hua, were from the Woodside neighborhood in Queens; the third, 41-year-old Tu Nguyen, was from North Carolina.
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WATCH HEREThe survivors in the Town Car were all men between the ages of 42 and 67, prosecutors said.
Lennon pleaded not guilty at a virtual arraignment at a hospital where he was treated shortly after the crash. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. Attorney information wasn't clear.
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SIGN UP "It was supposed to be a day of celebration for a family and a young woman turning 16, but the tragic events of that evening will have a ripple effect for generations to come," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. "The defendant is accused of a dangerous combination of speed and intoxication when he allegedly barreled down Jericho Turnpike and t-boned a car carrying six family members. This is an extraordinary tragedy, and we will aggressively prosecute Dante Lennon for his alleged actions."
