Home Police and Fire Breaking News Southold man involved in deadly limo crash takes plea, avoids jail

Southold man involved in deadly limo crash takes plea, avoids jail

Steven Romeo's attorney, Steve O'Brien, speaks with reporters outside the courtroom in Central Islip. Photo: Denise Civiletti

Steven Romeo of Southold, the driver of the pickup truck involved in the fatal limousine crash on County Road 48 in Cutchogue, pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired and was fined $500 today by a Suffolk County Criminal Court judge in Central Islip.

He will serve no time in jail.

Romeo in March 2016 was indicted on driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired in the July 2015 crash that claimed the lives of four young women and seriously injured four others.

The women were passengers in a stretch limousine that was attempting to make a U-turn onto westbound Route 48 when Romeo’s westbound pickup broadsided the limo.

Blood drawn an hour and 40 minutes after the crash showed Romeo’s blood alcohol level to be .066 percent, which is below the legal limit of .08 percent for driving while intoxicated in New York, but above the .06 percent limit for driving while impaired.

Investigators concluded Romeo’s BAC was at or above the limit at the time of the crash but was lower by the time his blood was drawn more than 90 minutes minutes later, according to Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

The limo driver, Carlos Pino, was indicted on four counts of criminally negligent homicide, four counts of assault for injuring the surviving passengers of the limousine, making an illegal U-turn and other charges. In October, his charges were dismissed by Judge Fernando Camacho, the same judge who accepted Romeo’s plea this morning.

The  district attorney has filed an appeal in the Pino case, his spokesperson said today.

Romeo’s attorney Steve O’Brien said until last night he was preparing for pretrial hearings today. He characterized his client as “salt of the earth,” a good man who has been torn up by the events of July 18, 2015.

O’Brien said Romeo was not the cause of the accident and was not intoxicated.

Romeo did not speak in court. His attorney said he was incapable of speaking and asked his lawyer to express his condolences to the families.

“There’s nothing he can say or do that will ever restore the families to what they were before the accident,” O’Brien said, adding that the case was probably the saddest case I’ve been involved in in 30-plus years.

Family members of the victims were in court today. One woman shouted, “This is a disgrace!” when the plea arrangement was announced.

Spota announced the people would appeal the dismissal of Pino’s charges immediately after the judge’s order dismissing them. The limo, attempting to make the U-turn, was stopped in the westbound lanes nearly perpendicular to the roadway in the intersection with Depot Lane, Camacho said in his decision. A westbound Jeep Liberty waiting in the left-turn lane at the intersection obstructed the Pino’s view of oncoming traffic, Spota said.

“Pino, an experienced professional limousine driver carrying eight passengers, turned blindly into a roadway when his view was completely blocked by another car. Pino was driving a vehicle he knew or should have known could never make a safe U-turn under the circumstances,” Spota said in October.

“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.

Brittany M. Schulman, 23, of Smithtown, Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown, Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy R. Grabina, 23, of Commack lost their lives in the crash.

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.