The driver who was high on cocaine and fentanyl when he slammed into an SUV on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the crash that killed four members of a family out for ice cream at the time. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.
What to Know
- Four people, a father along with his 12-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son and 6-year-old granddaughter were killed in a high-speed car crash on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa on Aug. 6
- 60-year-old Pat Huntley was out with his children and grandchild celebrating a new job when a speeding car slammed into the back of his SUV as he was stopped at a traffic light. His daughter Hannah and son Jeremiah were killed in the crash
- Michael DeAngelo was arrested after police said he was high on cocaine and fentanyl as he drove more than 120 mph just seconds before the crash. He braked a half-second before impact, hitting Huntley's vehicle at an estimated speed of 95 mph, according to prosecutors
A 33-year-old Long Island man has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and other crimes in connection with a 120 mph, drug-fueled crash that killed a father and three children last summer, prosecutors said.
Michael DeAngelo, of Lindenhurst, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple counts of manslaughter, assault and felony drugged driving-related charges in the Aug. 6, 2023 crash that killed 60-year-old Patrice Huntley along with his 12-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son and 6-year-old granddaughter on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa.
Huntley was out with his family, celebrating a new job, when investigators say DeAngelo rear-ended his vehicle, which was stopped at a red light outside a shopping center. They had been going to get ice cream.
DeAngelo hit the brakes about a half-second before impact, plowing into them at 95 mph. The high-speed crash crushed his SUV like an aluminum can. Huntley and his daughter died at the scene. The others died at a hospital.
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"It won't change anything. My kids won't return," Tasheba Hamilton, the wife of Huntley and mother of two children killed, said after the guilty plea. "This is a formality, what needs to be done legally but it’s not going to bring my children back."
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"He still has a chance to get out and go on like nothing ever happened, but I can never see my baby again," said Divina Hamilton, whose 6-year-old daughter Chantel Solomon died in the crash. "I can’t ever see my baby again. I had to watch her be hurt in the hospital, deal with all the stuff she didn’t deserve, she didn’t ask for this."
Two teenagers, both also Huntley's children, were hurt in the crash. Brienna Peoples, 18, had suffered "extreme" internal injuries and was hospitalized in critical condition after the crash. There was no immediate update on her condition Wednesday. Huntley's 14-year-old son David walked away from the crash site before collapsing on the road.
DeAngelo's vehicle went airborne. He suffered compound ankle fractures and other injuries, and his attorney said he had undergone three or four surgeries as a result. He has two prior arrests for DUI in addition to the one last year.
"Michael DeAngelo is one of the most staggeringly reckless defendants I have ever known. Just days before he rocketed his vehicle into Patrice Huntley and his children on Sunrise Highway, DeAngelo was arrested for alleged possession of crack cocaine and separately ran from authorities after being administered Narcan for an apparent overdose," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement Wednesday. "Three days after fleeing from officers, he got behind the wheel of his car, high on a dangerous cocktail of fentanyl and cocaine, pushed the accelerator to 120 miles per hour, and ended the lives of a former Marine and three beautiful children on their way to get ice cream. No sentence will ever be enough to ease the pain of this heartbroken family, their friends, and their community. How many more hearts must break before people learn that drugged driving destroys lives?"
DeAngelo is expected to be sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison at his next court appearance in June. Prosecutors sought a maximum sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years.
His attorney said Wednesday his client has taken responsibility for his actions and is remorseful. He said DeAngelo had suffered a drug induced seizure just before the crash, though Donnelly said there was no evidence of that.
Hamilton said the potential sentencing is not enough for the family that had been destroyed.
"I will never see my son get married, my daughter. All our lives have been shifted by this and the laws need to change," the grieving mother said.
