Parents Of Young Women in Limo Crash Applaud Reforms

CUTCHOGUE, NY — Parents of the young women killed and gravely injured in the 2015 Cutchogue limo crash are "ecstatic" about reforms recently included in the New York State budget.

A group of parents, whose lives were irrevocably changed after the deadly crash have organized in recent months to push for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles that they have said must remain included in the 2019 budget.

And after it was announced last week that many of the reforms they'd advocated for remained in the budget, they were relieved.

According to Nancy DiMonte, whose daughter Joelle was injured in the Cutchogue crash, said while much of what they asked for was included in the budget, other points such as a mandate that limo drivers have a CDL license, as well as the need for seat belt in limos, still need to be adopted.

The CDL requirement, she said, is critically important because drivers must be drug tested. "We're pushing for that," DiMonte said.

The parents, however, were pleased when reforms they'd advocated tirelessly for, including no U-turns on public or privately owned roads, tougher inspection laws, greater fines, classifying certain offenses as felonies, and higher insurance rates, were given the green light.

"We were thrilled," DiMonte said. "We feel great. We are so grateful finally that people are going to have accountability, so maybe there will be an attitude change. It's so close to prom season, maybe they'll think before they make that U turn," she said, adding that the reforms are effective immediately.

But, with an eye toward pushing for additional change, DiMonte said there will be a hearing in Albany in the next two to three weeks to discuss limousine safety. The parents may hold another rally to advocate for the remaining reforms they feel must be included.

The reforms were deeply meaningful to the parents who have lost so much. "Collectively the families are very happy with what has been admitted to the budget," said Paul Shulman, who lost his beloved daughter Brittney in the crash. "We would like to thank Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his staff. With their help, what we accomplished is huge. There was no accountability before. Now there is a foundation to build on and we will continue to advocate until we get everything in that needs to be." He also thanked U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy and Rep. Lee Zeldin, as well as town officials and the community in Smithtown.

"This is a real testament to safety, accountability — and the girls," DiMonte said. "This was done on their behalf."

While she said the parents are "ecstatic" at the "phenomenal" changes, much work still needs to be done.

DiMonte then discussed the horrific Schoharie limo crash. The operator of Prestige Limousine, Nauman Hussain, is out on bail awaiting trial for the deaths of 18 people in his company's stretch SUV, according to news reports. The crash Oct. 6, the worst in the nation since 2009, also killed two bystanders. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 40 counts handed up by a Schoharie County grand jury. Hussain went to court with bodyguards, which one of his attorneys said was due to the death threats he has received. Bail was set at $450,000 bond, which he posted. He must also wear a GPS monitor until the trial begins Sept. 9, The Times Union reported. Several family members of the victims attended the hearing.

Read the entire article on timesunion.com

Discussing that tragedy, DiMonte said: "This is why changes have to be made. Those families. . .I can't even imagine their lives, the anger and how upset they are. Of course, it's too late. But prom season is upon us, people are hiring limos — and we don't want to see this again in this country."

The dead in the Schoharie crash included four sisters and newlywed couples, many from nearby Amsterdam. They were on an excursion to a craft brewery to celebrate a birthday. One of them had texted minutes before the crash about the awful condition of the stretch limo, which was a last-minute substitute for a bus the group had rented.

The 2001 Ford Excursion SUV stretch limousine was traveling on State Route 30 when it blew through a stop sign into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country store and struck a parked Toyota Highlander. The Highlander then plowed into two people standing nearby. They and everyone in the limo died.
The stretch SUV was not federally certified, and had failed inspection a month before; and the driver was not properly licensed, officials said at the time.

The crash, the most deadly transportation incident in the United States since 2009 according to the National Transportation Safety Board, drew national attention and state efforts toward more regulation of stretch SUVs. The NTSB's preliminary report in February shed no new light on the cause of the crash.

Advocating for change

Recently, the family, friends and loved ones of the four young women killed in the 2015 limo crash met at LABS Lane, located at Smithtown High School West, to advocate and support the proposed bill for the safety of limousines.

In January, Cuomo announced comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles that will be included in the 2019 executive budget.

The reforms come in the wake of a devastating crash involving a modified stretched limousine in Schoharie County killed 20 people in 2018, Cuomo said.

"This crash was a horrific tragedy that shocked this state to its very core," Cuomo said. "We are advancing reforms that will give aggressive new powers that will allow authorities to take dangerous vehicles off the roads without delay, hold unscrupulous businesses accountable and increase public safety in every corner of New York."

Since the North Fork crash, the parents of the young women killed have been advocating tirelessly for reform. On Wednesday, Paul Shulman, whose daughter Brittney Shulman, 23, was one of four young women, including Stephanie Belli, 23, Amy Grabina, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, killed, said the need for change is critical.

Four survivors of the collision, Olga Lipets, Alicia Arundel, Joelle DiMonte and Melissa Crai, were also horribly injured.

As for DiMonte, she said: "My relatives, my friends, we think about this every day. I think, 'I'm so lucky to have my kid.' We parents, we've bonded, and I think, 'My God, they'll never see their kid again.' It's a raw, painful experience. I don't think you can erase what happened; however, passing this bill is a testament to the lives and loss of our daughters."

Her daughter, DiMonte said, still can't talk about that dark, horrific day. "The emotion is raw. I do this on her behalf," she said. "But she says, 'Mom, you're fighting so hard. This bill has to pass, and I'm worried that it won't.' I tell her, 'You're right to worry.'"

After the most recent crash in Oct., 2018, North Fork residents remembered that dark day in July, 2015. One woman wrote on social media, reflecting what so many have been thinking: "It happened again."

The parents of the young women killed in 2015, who spent years imploring officials for limousine regulations, including the prohibition of U-turns for limos, added their voices to that of Cuomo, who said in 2018 that the limo should in Schoharie should never have been on the road at all, because it had failed a New York State Department of Transportation inspection just a month prior to the crash.

"To see something this tragic brings back bad memories of that day and to see what we have been advocating for, to save lives, totally disregarded — to allow this to happen just tears me up inside, when both accidents could have been avoided if the changes we are looking to make, were law," Shulman told Patch in 2018.

In 2017, Shulman and the other parents also led the "Lauren, Amy, Brittney, Stephanie," or LABS, petition. LABS, he said, is a petition to "bring awareness and justice to the horrific event that occurred."

And in the fall of 2018, after the crash that took 20 lives, Shulman said all the cries for change had tragically gone unheard: "The construction of limos for safety standards need to be adhered to, such as steel reinforced bras on the doors. There was one on my daughter's limo, but it was placed lower than where it was hit — no airbags or seat belts." Shulman said protocol needed to be followed to ensure limo companies abide by safety standards and there should be federal mandates; limo drivers, he said, needed to have CDL licenses, not a Class E with a P endorsement.
"This is what we have been advocating for," Shulman said.

The 2015 crash took place at the intersection of County Road 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, "when the driver of a stretch limousine made a U-turn on a double lane road where no signal was indicated for oncoming traffic. As the driver made the U-turn, an oncoming driver with limited time to react, collided with the limousine, which ended in complete disarray," the petition stated.

"A day in which eight women decided to be safe and take what was supposed to be safe and reliable transportation, turned into the complete opposite. . . Eight women went to the wineries for a fun, exciting day, and only four came home . . . only to begin what will be the toughest journey of their lives."

Urging changes

The years since that dark day have been filled with pain and grief for the heartbroken families left behind.

"It is still a struggle to come to a decision on who is held responsible for this accident," the petition said. "Every single day, the families, friends, loved ones, and unrelated individuals are reminded of the accident and the details involving the loss of four beautiful women. This petition is to advocate not only for Lauren, Amy, Brittney, and Stephanie, but for anyone who considers limousines as a reliable transportation option."

The parents, with an eye toward preventing future tragedies, listed a number of points they believe can save lives. To view that petition, click here.

And, after the Cutchogue crash, the parents of the eight young women have been unified in their cry for a green turning arrow at the Depot Lane traffic signal, despite the fact that Suffolk County has not yet installed one — and have said there is no present plans to do so.

The North Fork community has long been cloaked in mourning since the crash, with many residents echoing similar thoughts about how the memories of the worst tragedy they've ever witnessed, continue to haunt.

The limousine, driven by Pino and owned by Ultimate Class Limousine, Inc., was transporting the young women on July 18, 2015, former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said; at approximately 5:11 p.m, the limo, while making a U-turn at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, was broadsided by a pickup truck driven by Steven Romeo.

Spota said the DA's office planned to appeal the decision of a judge to throw out the indictment and dismiss charges against Pino. Romeo pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in April, 2017.

A day that haunts

Each of the four families who lost their daughters has chosen to honor their daughter by giving yearly scholarships to worthy students.

"You see these eight beautiful babies? The way I'm leaving them with you, I want them back."
Those were the heartbreaking words Felicia Baruch uttered to limo driver Carlos Pino before the limo crash in July, 2015 in Cutchogue that took the life of her daughter Lauren and three other young women, and left four others gravely injured. The words were revealed as part of a a 156-page New York Supreme Court Suffolk County Special Grand Jury Report released in Dec. 2016, with recommendations discussed at a press conference.

Findings indicated that the grand jury wanted to see U-turns by modified or stretch limos banned in Suffolk County and New York State, enhanced driver certification requirements, and a new traffic light at County Road 48 with a green turning arrow with a red phase for both eastbound and westbound traffic.

The "lack of regulations" regarding stretch limos was cited, as was the "inadequate traffic light" at County Road 48 and Depot Lane, Spota said.

At the time, Spota prophetically said something needed to be done so that an similar accident would never happen again. "There's nothing but a fine line between a stretch limousine and a hearse," he said.