EAST MASSAPEQUA, Long Island (PIX11) — A father who was taking his children out to get ice cream was killed, along with his 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, when an SUV traveling at a high rate of speed rammed into the family’s vehicle, according to police.
Police said that two more children who’d been in the car were now fighting for their lives.
It was one of two deadly crashes in Nassau County in eight hours on Sunday evening into early Monday morning. In both cases, children were the victims. The first of the crashes happened at around 7:20 p.m. on Sunday in East Massapequa. The collision was part of a four-car, chain-reaction crash that devastated even some of the most seasoned officers and detectives.
“Probably one of the most horrific scenes we’ve seen in our days,” said the Nassau County Homicide Squad Commanding Officer, Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick, at a Monday afternoon news conference.
Police said a Hyundai Kona SUV traveling westbound on Sunrise Highway rammed into a Hyundai Santa Fe. The crash happened in front of a strip mall near Old Sunrise Highway. Driving the Santa Fe, police said, was Patrick Huntley, 60, who was taking his family to get ice cream.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder gave more details.
They were celebrating “because Dad had just gotten a new job,” Ryder said.
“[Huntley] said goodbye to his daughter and his son,” said the commissioner, in addition to losing his life.
The other two victims from the car were identified as Hannah Huntley, 13, and Jeremiah Huntley, 10.
The 32-year-old driver of the Hyundai Kona who rammed into them is not yet been identified by police. However, they said that the driver, who sustained fractures to one of his ankles, also injured other people in the crash.
He rammed into the Huntley family’s vehicle at such a high rate of speed that it caused their car to collide with a Chevy Malibu sedan in front of it, investigators said. The chain-reaction impact injured the sedan’s driver, an 83-year-old man. Also, police said the impact of the initial collision was so great that it caused the Kona to flip over onto another vehicle in the adjacent turning lane.
In total, five people were injured at the scene, including two other children who were in the Huntley Family’s SUV. Those children are the six-year-old granddaughter of victim Patrick Huntley and an 18-year-old. Both of them are in very critical condition.
“You’re killing families,” said Nassau County Homicide Squad Commanding Officer Stephen Fitzpatrick.
He criticized the driver of the vehicle that devastated the Huntley Family and the driver accused of causing the death of another child in another crash overnight.
It happened at around 2:30 a.m. on Hempstead Turnpike, near Broad Street. Police said a man was driving drunk when he rammed into a Hyundai Elantra sedan at high speed. Just outside the sedan were a mother and her six-year-old daughter, looking at some discarded carpet samples on the side of the road.
The driver at fault, according to detectives, was Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez of Freeport, whose blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, they said.
The girl he’s accused of killing is Katerine Vanegas-Hernandez, 6.
In the first crash, in East Massapequa, police aren’t yet identifying the driver. They said that because excessive speed was involved, he would be charged with speeding, but other charges are expected as the investigation into the crash continues.
