NYPD Police Officer, Emilia Rennhack id as one of the four fatal victims killed at Deer Park nail salon at Long Island at the hands of DWI driver, 64, Steven Schwally.
An off-duty NYPD police officer has been identified as one of four people killed when a minivan crashed into a nail salon on Long Island, officials stated Saturday.
Police Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, was getting her nails done at the salon for an upcoming wedding when an allegedly 64 year old ‘speeding’ drunken driver crashed his minivan into the shop on Grand Boulevard in Deer Park, Friday afternoon, just on 4.30pm
The officer worked in Queens 102 Pct., where her husband is a detective, the nypost reported.
Van driver, 64, arrested and charged with DWI, further pending charges
‘Our hearts are breaking following the tragic loss of our 102 Pct. sister P.O. Emilia Rennhack in an off-duty incident yesterday,’ the Police Benevolent Association wrote on Facebook. ‘Please join us in praying for her family, friends and coworkers. Funeral arrangements to follow.’
Steven Schwally, 64, of Dix Hills, N.Y, was behind the wheel of a 2020 Chevy Traverse when the vehicle smashed through the storefront just after 4:30 p.m. Friday, trapping customers and employees inside, according to a Suffolk County Police press release.
Schwally was arrested and charged with DWI.
It is believed he was the sole occupant of the vehicle that came barrelling through the store front after observed by witnesses driving at high speeds and swerving in and around cars before losing control.
‘They were trapped inside. Everybody was inside the salon,’
He was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip with non-life-threatening injuries and will be arraigned at a later date where he now faces additional pending charges according to ABC7NY.
The afternoon mayhem left the entire glass storefront shattered and ceiling collapsed in what was believed to be a packed nail salon ahead of the summer weekend.
The minivan came to rest towards the back of the salon.
‘They were trapped inside. Everybody was inside the salon,’ Deer Park Third Assistant Chief Dominic Albanese told Newsday of the victims.
‘It’s horrible. It’s horrible. It can be tough for the community and tougher for the volunteer fire department, but you know we’re going to get through it,’ Albanese added.
3 female fatal victims and one male fatality
Leading into the crash, Schwally is reported to have been driving southbound at a high rate of speed through the parking lot in front of 421 Commack Road, then crossed over Grand Boulevard and continued through the parking lot of 794 Grand Boulevard, where he crashed the vehicle through the front window of the nail salon, police said.
The salon was open and conducting business at the time of the crash, police said.
Three women and a man were pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner; nine additional people were transported to local hospitals, police said.
A total of nine departments and about 150 firefighters and EMS first responders at the scene for hours, the official said.
To date authorities have not released the identities of the victims.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on the crash to call the Major Case Unit at 631-852-6555.
