Four women celebrating a bachelorette party were killed in a limo crash on Long Island over the weekend after their vehicle was struck by a drunken hit-and-run driver.
The limousine was near Depot Lane in Cutchogue, New York, after leaving a vineyard on Saturday when a pickup truck slammed into its side, the New York Daily News reported.The driver of the pickup initially fled the scene but authorities later arrested Steve Romeo, of Southold, nearby after identifying him as the driver, Southold Police chief Martin Flatley told the Daily News.
North Fork Patch reported that those killed in the accident were Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown; Brittany Schulman, 23, of Smithtown; Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack; and Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park.
Four other women in the limousine were injured and hospitalized, according to North Fork Patch. Those people were identified as Alicia Arundel, 23, of Setauket; Melissa Crai, 23, of Scarsdale; Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood; and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn.
The limo driver, 58-year-old Carlos Pino, of Bethpage, was transported to a Suffolk County hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the Suffolk Times.
Authorities told North Fork Patch that three of the women were pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a hospital after the crash.
Romeo is the co-owner of Romeo Dimon Marine Service in Southold. He entered a plea of not guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge during a bedside arraignment at Eastern Long Island Hospital Sunday and is being held on $1 million bond, or $500,000 cash, according to North Fork Patch.
Assistant Suffolk County district attorney Elizabeth Miller told Patch that she expects that prosecutors are "looking into upgrading the charges significantly" as the investigation continues.
In describing his client's emotional state, Romero's attorney Dan O'Brien told the Suffolk Times that "it's a tough, tough situation." O'Brien did not elaborate on where Romeo was traveling to at the time, the Suffolk Times noted.
The newspaper stated that Romeo was a part of another fatal accident in January 2014 at a Mattituck, New York, construction site when a 30-year-old worker was struck by a bucket that fell off a loader Romeo was operating. He was not charged in that incident.
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