The limousine driver in last summer’s fatal Route 48 crash has been indicted on criminally negligent homicide charges in the deaths of the four young women killed in the accident, the Suffolk County district attorney announced today. He is also facing assault charges for injuring the surviving passengers, as well as other charges stemming from the crash.
A five-month long grand jury investigation found that Carlos Pino, 58, was responsible for the crash, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said at a press conference in his Hauppauge office this afternoon.
Pino failed to yield when he attempted the fatal U-turn at the intersection of County Road 48 and Depot Lane last July, steering his limousine into two lanes of westbound traffic, where it was t-boned by a pickup truck driven by a Peconic man.
“There is no evidence that demonstrates he even came to a stop,” Spota said.
Four of the eight young women in the limousine were killed in the accident. The victims, all between the ages of 23 and 25, had been celebrating a friend’s upcoming wedding with an afternoon visiting several North Fork wineries.
Pino will be arraigned this afternoon in Suffolk County’s First District Court on four counts of criminally negligent homicide and four counts of assault with criminal negligence for injuring the four surviving passengers. (Update: Pino has pleaded not guilty to all charges. See full story)
Though it is legal to make a U-turn at that intersection, Pino failed to stop and to make sure he could turn safely and steered the limousine into oncoming traffic in a way that made it impossible for the pickup truck to stop in time, Spota said today.
“Pino failed to take any precaution or action to make sure he could safely enter the westbound traffic lanes,” Spota said. “He continued to attempt his U-turn without stopping.”
The driver of the pickup truck, 55-year-old Steve Romeo, could not see the limousine turning into his lane until it was too late, Spota said. A Jeep Liberty also traveling westbound was waiting in the left turn lane at the intersection, blocking both Romeo’s view of the limo and Pino’s view of oncoming traffic — and leaving Romeo with just 200 feet to stop from the moment the limo came into his view, Spota said. That was not enough.
At the speed investigators determined Romeo was traveling – between 57 and 61 miles per hour – the pickup truck required 263 feet to stop from the second Romeo would have been able to see the limousine in the roadway.
The Jeep would have also impeded Pino’s view of westbound traffic as he began making the U-turn with his limousine, Spota said, and he would not have been able to safely determine if any traffic was coming westbound. The grand jury therefore found him responsible for making an unsafe turn and causing the accident.
“Because of his actions, he failed to see the Jeep Liberty in front of him, or Mr. Romeo’s pickup converging on the intersection,” Spota said.
Romeo was initially charged by police with driving while intoxicated. The grand jury indicted him on the DWI charge as well as the lesser charge of driving while ability impaired. His blood drawn about more than 90 minutes after the crash tested for a blood alcohol content of .066 percent. He is being charged with driving while intoxicated even though his blood alcohol was less than .08 percent, because investigators concluded his BAC was at or above the limit at the time of the crash but was lower by the time his blood was drawn an hour and 40 minutes after the accident.
The grand jury declined to indict Romeo on criminally negligent homicide or vehicular homicide charges because they found that, even if he had been sober, he would have been unable to see the limousine in time to stop.
“A perfectly sober Steven Romeo could not avoid this crash. An intoxicated Steven Romeo could not avoid this crash. It was simply unavoidable from Romeo’s perspective,” Spota said.
“By law, there must be a link between Romeo’s intoxication and the cause of the crash. Here, because the crash was unavoidable, there is no such link and the grand jury did not indict him for vehicular manslaughter or criminal negligent homicide,” Spota said. “Romeo can be held criminal responsible for driving while intoxicated, but cannot be held criminally responsible for the crash. The person who is criminally responsible for the crash is Carlos Pino and Carlos Pino alone.”
Both Pino and Romeo were injured in the crash. Pino sustained a fractured left hand that required surgical intervention, according to a notice of claim he later filed with Southold Town. Romeo suffered a broken nose.
The four surviving female passengers of the limousine were also badly injured in the accident.
Four of the crash victims, including two survivors, have filed lawsuits against the town, according to town attorney William Duffy. A fifth has sued Romeo, the limousine company and the driver. Pino filed a notice of claim against Southold Town in October, claiming he sustained personal injuries in the crash due to dangerous conditions at the intersection. He blamed the lack of a traffic signal and the “dangerously excessive” speed limit near the intersection for his injuries.
The remaining three crash victims or their families have filed notices of claim against the town and county.
A traffic signal was installed at the intersection of the crash two months later, though Suffolk County officials said the installation had been planned before the accident and investigators today said there was not proof that the lack of a signal caused the crash.
Pino is scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk County First District Court today at 2 p.m. on the following charges:
- criminally negligent homicide, an E felony (four counts);
- assault with criminal negligence causing injury with by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument, a Class A misdemeanor (four counts);
- reckless driving, an unclassified misdemeanor (one count);
- failure to report an accident, an unclassified misdemeanor.
- illegal U-turn – wrong lane, an infraction;
- failure to stay in a single lane, an infraction.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
