Brady Heiling and his girlfriend, Hallie Helgeson, were killed when they were hit by a wrong-way drunk driver in July. Heiling was a stand-out football player for MACCRAY High School in Clara City, Minnesota. More importantly, he was a stand-out person to those who knew him.
“I imagine it’s going to be a lot of emotions tonight. Good, bad, and all the in-between,” said Jen Heiling, Brady’s mom.
It wasn’t that long ago that Jen Heiling watched her son make plays all over the football field. And it didn’t matter if his team was up by 30 or down by 30.
“If he knew the outcome was going to be real gritty, it didn’t affect him. He was going to play,” said Jen Heiling.
“His effort in everything. I don’t know how he did it, how he gave 100% in everything he was a part of. But he did,” said Cole Christopher, Brady Heiling’s head coach at MACCRAY.
Brady Heiling graduated from MACCRAY in 2024 and could have played college football. But he decided to stay closer to home and wait for Hallie Helgeson to graduate from Montevideo High School. When the young couple was tragically killed this summer, friends and family promised to carry on their legacy.
“There’s just another step to this game tonight. Especially for Brady,” said Eli Marlow, who is now a senior lineman and running back for MACCRAY.
Before Friday’s game against rival Canby, MACCRAY players unveiled the number 11 on their helmets, which was Brady Heiling’s old number. And they wore shirts that said, “Play Like Brady.” A moment of silence was also held for the former linebacker, as his family stood with the team.
“Canby was always our big rival, and Brady always hated but loved playing Canby. There’s a lot on the line and it’s really nerve-racking,” said Marlow.
Win or lose, Brady Heiling still inspires MACCRAY. And on this field, and in the stands, his presence is everywhere.
“I think Brady would be really proud of his community. It’s really hard for us to do this without him, just because it’s something that he really loved. And we loved watching him do it,” said Jen Heiling.
On Saturday, 11 trees will be planted in Brady Heiling’s honor around the football stadium. They are calling it “The Wall” to remember the stout defense he and his teammates played.
John Lauritsen is an Emmy award-winning reporter from Montevideo, Minn. He joined WCCO-TV in late-July of 2007. Two days after he started, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed.
Lisbon — Two days after Portugal’s worst-ever electric streetcar crash killed 16 people and left more than 20 others from across the globe injured, forensics teams in Lisbon said Friday that they had identified nearly all of the victims, many of whom were crushed to death when the famed Elevador da Gloria funicular hurtled out of control down a steep hill, derailed and careened into a building.
While names have not yet been disclosed, Portugal’s attorney-general said Friday morning that the death toll includes two South Koreans, two Swiss nationals, one French national and five Portuguese citizens.
“Our staff in Lisbon and here in the United States are working tirelessly to provide consular assistance to the victim and their family. We extend our condolences to the victims and families of all those affected,” the official said. “The Embassy is working closely with local authorities to assist U.S. citizens in the affected area, and continues to monitor the situation closely. Due to privacy considerations, we have no additional details at this time.”
People work at the site of the derailment and crash of the Gloria funicular railway car, a popular tourist attraction, which resulted in multiple casualties, in Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 4, 2025. Wreckage of the upper carriage can be seen behind the still-intact lower carriage in the foreground.
Pedro Nunes/REUTERS
There is also “a high possibility,” based on recovered documents and other evidence, that the victims include two Canadians, one German and one Ukrainian, according to the head of the national investigative police, Luís Neves. CBS News’ partner network BBC News said Friday that Portuguese police believed three British nationals were also among those killed.
At least 21 other passengers were injured, including people from Portugal, Spain, Israel, Brazil, Italy and France, according to the head of Portugal’s National Health Service.
Millions of people ride Lisbon’s iconic yellow-and-white funicular cars each year. It’s a popular experience for foreign tourists, and the Elevador da Gloria, at almost 140 years old, has long been a big attraction. In 2024, an estimated 29 million foreigners visited Portugal, many passing through the capital and its quiet, cobblestone streets and hills.
But the electric street cars and hillside funiculars are also part of everyday life for many locals.
A Portuguese charity based on the hill near the top of the Elevador da Gloria funicular confirmed Friday that four of its employees were killed in the accident. They were believed to have been commuting from work.
“We have lost colleagues, friends and the people who we shared our daily lives as well as our mission”, the Santa Casa da Misericordia said in a statement. “We’re in a state of shock.”
A police officer walks past the wrecked Elevador da Gloria funicular at the scene where it derailed, Sept, 3, 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Horacio Villalobos/Getty
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas attended a Mass in the early evening on Thursday near the site of the crash. Speaking to reporters outside the church, Rebelo de Sousa said: “This is a time of mourning. It’s the moment to mourn the dead… pray and think of the dead, and to support their friends and family.”
The president also called for a clarification of the causes of the accident “as quickly as possible.”
After midnight on Friday, and with few onlookers, workers lifted the mangled wreckage of the Elevador da Gloria car that crashed.
As with most funiculars, two carriages linked by a steel cable operate in tandem: One carriage climbs up the hill as the other trundles slowly down. Early Wednesday evening, many people believe that cable snapped, causing the tragedy.
Portuguese media showed officials inspecting the frayed ends of the cable that had connected the cars, which they had pulled up from underground, on Friday. According to a fire brigade official, the car coming down from the top of the hill was not able to slow down, entered a curve in the hill too fast, derailed, and then plowed into the cobblestone pavement and crashed.
Cable and brake failures are two of the most common causes of streetcar accidents.
The president of the Portuguese Order of the Engineers, Almeis Santos, told CBS News the accident appeared to have been caused by the rupture of the cable.
“It’s very strange… for this kind of cable. It’s not normal and it’s almost impossible to have [a] sudden rupture,” he said.
Tourists wait to board the Elevador da Gloria funicular, one of the funiculars operated by Carris in Lisbon, Portugal, in a May 24, 2024 file photo.
Horacio Villalobos/Corbis/via Getty
Santos said if the cable did snap suddenly, neither the manual nor automatic brakes on the funicular would have been sufficient to hold back the streetcars, which, when loaded with passengers weigh around 20 tons each.
Carris, the company that operates the Elevador da Gloria, has said regular inspections — including daily checks — had been carried out as required.
Portugal’s Air and Rail Accident Investigation Unit was expected to release a preliminary report on the technical cause of the funicular crash later Friday. In 45 days, Portugal’s national police will then issue their report on any potential criminality involved in the crash.
The mayor said Lisbon and its three million residents would observe three days of mourning following the disaster.
Ramy Inocencio is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in London, covering Europe and the Middle East. He joined the Network in 2019 as CBS News’ Asia correspondent, based in Beijing and reporting across the Asia-Pacific, bringing two decades of experience working and traveling between Asia and the United States.
Two women are dead and a child is injured after a carjacking suspect fleeing police crashed into a vehicle at a busy north Minneapolis intersection on Thursday morning, according to police.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a news conference his department was alerted to reports of a person with a gun on East Lake Street and Fourth Avenue South just after 8 a.m., which was soon updated to a carjacking in progress.
Witnesses said a man driving in a maroon Ford Explorer was traveling in a “flagrantly reckless manner,” speeding and swerving into oncoming traffic, and even driving on sidewalks on Lake Street, O’Hara said.
The suspect then crashed, pulled out a gun and tried to carjack a motorist at a red light. That motorist was able to drive away, but the suspect then “violently carjacked” a woman in a black Volkswagen at gunpoint.
WCCO
O’Hara said the suspect sped off, but then circled back to “retrieve three dogs from the Explorer.” After getting the dogs, the suspect drove off while firing gunshots.
At about 8:19 a.m., O’Hara said the suspect was seen driving recklessly downtown, and then was spotted driving in north Minneapolis at 8:36 a.m. Officers initiated a pursuit, which “ended tragically three minutes later when the suspect crashed into an innocent vehicle” on Highway 55 near Penn Avenue North, the chief said — stressing that no squad cars were involved in the collision, and the squad pursuing the suspect was “fully-marked.”
Marisa Casebolt
Casebolt family
The two women inside the other vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene, while a 6-year-old passenger with them suffered survivable injuries, according to O’Hara. The women were identified late Thursday as Marisa Ardys Casebolt and Liberty Borg. Both were 25 years old.
The suspect, a 45-year-old man from St. Paul, was arrested at the crash scene and transported to North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, where he is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
O’Hara said a gun was recovered from the suspect’s stolen car. Two of the dogs inside were hurt in the crash, but the third was eventually euthanized due to its injuries.
“This is an outcome that we never want, as two innocent lives have been taken from us because of one person’s violent and reckless behavior,” O’Hara said during the news conference. “This is exactly why we take carjackings and gun crime so seriously, because they put every member of our community at risk.”
When questioned about his department’s pursuit policy, O’Hara described their rules as “stringent.”
“We’ve been criticized recently — because of all the smash-and-grabs and stolen cars that have affected literally hundreds of residents — for having a pursuit policy that does not allow pursuits in those cases,” he said. “We have to balance the need to apprehend, you know, in this case a dangerous and violent gunman, with the risk that these pursuits pose to the public. So we limit our pursuits only to those cases where we believe an immediate apprehension is necessary to protect the community from a violent criminal.”
O’Hara said his department is leading the Lake Street carjacking investigation, while the Minnesota State Patrol is leading the crash investigation.
The interim executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, David Titus, called for tougher penalties for violent offenders in response to the fatal crash.
“Two innocent women are dead and a child is injured solely because of the reckless, violent actions of a criminal who carjacked at gunpoint with shots fired – and then fled police through Minneapolis rush-hour traffic. Enough is enough,” Titus said in a statement.
Stephen Swanson is a web producer at CBS News Minnesota. Stephen was a floor director for a decade before moving to the WCCO-TV newsroom in 2011, where he focuses on general assignment reporting.
A teenager died and three others were injured during a head-on crash in southern Minnesota early Saturday morning.
The crash happened just after 1 a.m. on Highway 19 near 441st Avenue in Dryden Township, according to a crash report.
The Minnesota State Patrol says a 17-year-old girl had been driving a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville westbound on the highway when her vehicle collided with a 2000 Chevy K30 traveling in the opposite direction.
The Chevy was driven by a 17-year-old boy. Two passengers suffered life-threatening injuries: a 41-year-old man from Winthrop and a 50-year-old man from Glencoe. The crash report did not say what kind of condition the driver was in, but he was transported to HCMC. None of the Chevy’s occupants had been wearing a seat belt.
The State Patrol identifies the deceased driver as a girl from Henderson, Minnesota. She had been wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
Dryden Township is about 70 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Riley Moser is a digital producer who covers breaking news and feature stories for CBS Minnesota. Riley started her career at CBS Minnesota in June 2022 and earned an honorable mention for sports writing from the Iowa College Media Association the same year.
A 27-year-old man from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was killed in a motorcycle crash on Thursday night just a few blocks north of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
The Minnesota State Patrol said it happened at about 10:21 p.m. near the intersection of Snelling and Garden avenues in Falcon Heights.
The motorcycle, headed northbound on Snelling, collided with a southbound SUV that had turned east onto Garden.
The motorcyclist’s passenger, a 25-year-old Scandia woman, survived the crash with non-life threatening injuries, the state patrol said. Neither were wearing helmets.
The driver of the SUV, a 28-year-old Roseville woman, wasn’t hurt.
The state patrol said it’s unclear at this point if alcohol played in a role in the crash, though the SUV’s driver was not under the influence.
Djakari Rashawn Pariani-Tompkins, 29, was killed Monday when he lost control of his vehicle in the 5900 block of Point Reyes-Petaluma Road northwest of Novato, according to the county.
At approximately 3:40 p.m., Pariani-Tompkins was driving a Ford Expedition westbound within Chileno Valley near McEvoy Ranch, south of Petaluma within Marin County.
For reasons unknown and which remain under investigation, Pariani-Tompkins lost control of the vehicle he was operating, departed the roadway and his SUV rolled over onto its roof.
Pariani-Tompkins was not wearing a seatbelt and was partially ejected from the vehicle during the collision and became partially entrapped beneath the vehicle when it came to rest, according to the county.
A restrained front-seat passenger was able to self-extricate herself from the vehicle after the collision.
Pariani-Tompkins was discovered lifeless, unresponsive, and unconscious. His death was declared on the scene “without providing resuscitative aid having sustained traumatic injuries incompatible with life,” the county said.
The medical examiner on Tuesday carried out an autopsy and took a routine toxicology, the county said. The cause and manner of his death will be pending the conclusion of an investigation by the California Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.
“The Marin County Sheriff’s Office and personnel of the Coroner Division offers our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Pariani-Tompkins.”
Pariani-Tompkins was a resident of both San Rafael and Petaluma, the county said.
(FOX40.COM) — A bicyclist is dead after a fatal crash with a semi-truck on Monday afternoon, according to the West Sacramento Police Department.
At around 2:26 p.m., WSPD responded to the area of Industrial Boulevard near Stone Boulevard for a report of a traffic collision involving a bicyclist and a semi-truck. When officers arrived, they said the West Sacramento Fire Department was tending to the bicyclist. Despite their efforts, the victim, a man in his early twenties, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the semi-truck driver was cooperative and “there is no indication of the driver being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
Roadways were temporarily closed, but have since reopened.
BELLEVUE TOWNSHIP, Minn. — A motorcyclist is dead after hitting an ice house being towed by another veicle on a highway in central Minnesota, authorities said.
A 27-year-old Sauk Rapids man on a motorcycle rear-ended the fish house on Highway 10 near 83rd Street in Bellevue Township, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.
The man was thrown off the motorcycle and died, the patrol said.
The patrol did not mention any other injuries. Two people were in the vehicle towing the fish house, and a third vehicle hit the motorcycle after the initial crash.
Bellevue Township is about 26 miles north of St. Cloud.
AITKIN COUNTY, Minn. — Two people are dead and three juveniles and two other people are critically injured after a car crash on Highway 169.
Four vehicles were involved in the crash: a Chevrolet Suburban pulling a trailer, a GMC Yukon, a Jeep and a Dodge Ram pulling a trailer.
According to an incident report, the Suburban was travelling eastbound pulling a trailer on County Road 3 when it failed to stop at the stop sign for Highway 169. Meanwhile, the Yukon was travelling north on Highway 169 when it struck the eastbound Suburban, causing severe damage.
The Jeep and the Dodge Ram, which was also pulling a trailer, were facing westbound and waiting when they were also struck by the Yukon, causing moderate damage.
Two passengers in the Suburban, Elizabeth Baldwin, 61, and Marlo Baldwin, 92, died in the accident. The driver, Roger Walker, 61, suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the accident.
Three of the passengers and the driver of the Yukon suffered life-threatening injuries. The three gravely injured passengers in are 18, 14 and 11 years old.
This is a developing story. Check back on WCCO.com later for more details.
Two people were killed in separate, unrelated collisions involving school buses in Los Angeles County on Friday morning, authorities said.
About 7 a.m., a gray SUV traveling east on Avenue M in Lancaster swerved into oncoming lanes of traffic and collided head-on with a school bus east of 20th Street West, according to Deputy Veronica Fantom, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The driver of the SUV was pronounced dead at the scene, Fantom said.
There were no children on the school bus at the time of the crash, she said, but KTLA reported that two adults on the bus were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
It is currently unknown if alcohol, drugs or speed played a role in the crash, Fantom said.
The second deadly crash took place at the intersection of Del Amo and Norwalk boulevards in the vicinity of the border between Lakewood and Cerritos, when a vehicle ran a red light and collided with a school bus about 8:30 a.m., Fantom said.
After hitting the bus, the vehicle then veered onto a nearby sidewalk — colliding with an elderly female bicyclist, Fantom said. L.A. County Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the cyclist dead at the scene, she said.
No children were aboard the bus and there were no other known injuries, she said.
According to St. Louis Park city officials, surveillance video shows a male driver entering the Park Tavern parking lot around 8 p.m. The video shows him attempting to park and then driving into the outside patio.
The driver, a 56-year-old St. Louis Park man, has been arrested for criminal vehicular homicide.
“I was just leaving Park Tavern. I was driving out of the parking lot, I noticed a car speeding up and I turned out of the way and he just barely nicked me on my back left,” witness Josh Fix said. “Was pretty shocked so I turned my head around and saw him drive into the patio.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 952-924-2618.
The restaurant released a statement late Sunday.
“Following the tragic incident on our patio Sunday night, Park Tavern will be closed until further notice as we support and care for our staff and neighbors,” the statement read. “Thank you for your understanding and kindness during this incredibly difficult time.”
The St. Louis Park Police Department was assisted by multiple agencies including the Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata police departments, as well as the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
“This is an active and ongoing investigation of the St. Louis Park Police Department. Additional updates will be provided as more information is available,” city officials said in a statement.
Park Tavern is located on the 3400 block of Louisiana Avenue.
Kirsten Mitchell joined the WCCO team as a reporter in November of 2021. A Saint Paul native, Kirsten is proud to tell stories in her home state. She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Go Gophs!) and interned at WCCO during her time there.
Detroit — A teenager drove nearly 140 miles per hour just days before a high-speed crash in suburban Detroit last November that killed his friend, according to video obtained by CBS News this week.
On Nov. 17, 2023, Flynn MacKrell, 18, was a passenger in a BMW X3 that crashed into a utility pole and tree minutes after he left his home in the city of Grosse Pointe Farms.
Flynn’s 16-year-old friend, Kiernan Tague, was behind the wheel and survived. Police say Tague was driving over 100 mph on a residential street where the speed limit was 25 mph.
“Every day I wake up and it literally feels like a horror show,” Anne Vanker, Flynn’s mother, told CBS News.
MacKrell’s parents believe Tague’s mother, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, could and should have stopped him.
“I think both of them should go to jail,” said Thad MacKrell, Flynn’s father, of Tague and his mother.
“Gross negligence manslaughter for Elizabeth,” Vanker said.
Investigators found cell phone videos on Tague’s phone showing a pattern of excessive speeding, matched they say by records from an app called Life 360 which his mother used to track his car in the weeks leading up to the crash.
During a 17-day period, the app recorded that about a quarter of his trips involved speeds over 100 mph, and 10% involved speeds over 120 mph.
Police records showed that Tague’s mother was concerned about her son’s driving, texting him once that “it scares me to my bone,” and another time to “slow the f— down right now!”
Tague was charged in March with second-degree murder and remains out on bail. If found guilty, he could be sentenced at least partially as an adult. When contacted by CBS News, the family’s attorney had no comment, citing ongoing litigation.
Anne and Thad compare the case to that of Oxford, Michigan, school shooter Ethan Crumbley. Both his parents were separately convicted earlier this year for not securing the gun he used in the 2021 killing of four people.
CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson says she believes this case could be even stronger.
“She had months and months of knowledge of her son’s reckless driving,” Levinson said. “And she not only failed to take the keys away. She actually gave him a car that could go faster.”
Lilia Luciano is an award-winning journalist and CBS News 24/7 anchor and correspondent based in New York City. Luciano is the recipient of multiple journalism awards, including a Walter Cronkite Award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and five regional Emmys.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A man in his 90s died on Wednesday morning in a crash near Como Park, where the street lights were off because of a power outage.
According to the St. Paul police, he was a passenger in a Ford Transit van that was hit by a driver in a Dodge Journey at the intersection of Lexington Parkway and Como Avenue. The crash happened around 5:15 a.m.
The van rolled to its side. The man was removed from the van and taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Officials say the street lights and stop lights at the intersection were not operating due to the power outages caused by a storm on Tuesday.
Police say the driver of the Dodge Journey is cooperating and impairment is not suspected.
EAST BETHEL, Minn. — A motorcyclist was killed in a crash with an SUV in the north metro Saturday afternoon.
The crash happened just before 3:30 p.m. near the 4500 block of Fawn Lake Drive Northeast in East Bethel, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.
A woman driving an SUV tried to turn left into a driveway, at which point a man on a motorcycle went into the opposite lane and hit the side of the SUV, the sheriff’s office said.
The man died at the scene. The woman suffered minor injuries.
The Minnesota State Patrol said 69 people died in motorcycle crashes in 2023, with 15 deaths reported by this time last year. The latest state data has numbers through May, with 11 reported motorcycle deaths.
A 22-year-old Herndon woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash Friday night in Ashburn.
At approximately 10:15 p.m., deputies responded to the intersection of Ashburn Village Road and Fultonham Circle for a report of a crash involving a red Honda Civic sedan and white Toyota Highlander SUV.
The driver of the Honda, Megan Taylor, 22, of Herndon, was pronounced dead on the scene, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The driver and passengers of the Toyota were transported to local hospitals. The LCSO Crash Reconstruction Unit is investigating the incident.
Anyone with information, please contact Investigator Lotz at 703-777-1021. Callers wishing to remain anonymous are asked to call Loudoun County Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919 or submit a tip through the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office app.
Two people are dead after a motorcycle crash in Temple Hills, Maryland, on Saturday evening.
Two people are dead after a motorcycle crash in Temple Hills, Maryland, on Saturday evening, police said.
In a news release, Maryland State Police said that just before 8 p.m., troopers responded to the area of northbound Interstate 495 near Branch Avenue on a report of a crash involving a motorcycle.
Police said initial investigation showed that 37-year-old Quintin Barnes of Reisterstown was driving a Harley-Davidson motorcycle along with a passenger, 19-year-old Jasmine Jeffries, north on I-495 when it struck the back of a Dodge.
Both Barnes and Jeffries were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
The driver and passenger of the Dodge were taken to the hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Lanes on northbound I-495 were temporarily closed due to the accident. Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Below is a map of the area where the crash occurred:
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SAN JOSE – Police in San Jose have responded to a fatal collision involving a motorcyclist in a South San Jose neighborhood Thursday afternoon.
According to officers, the collision took place near Winfield Boulevard and Furlong Drive shortly after 4 p.m. A motorcycle and a vehicle were involved.
Police said the motorcyclist was pronounced dead the scene. Their identity was not released.
The incident is the 24th fatal collision in San Jose this year.
Police said that traffic on Winfield Boulevard between Blossom Hill and Coleman roads will be impacted for several hours. Drivers are urged to use alternate routes.
Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.
NEW HYDE PARK, Long Island (WABC) — It was an emotional day on Long Island as friends, family, and co-workers came together to remember an NYPD officer killed by an out-of-control car at a nail salon in Deer Park.
A large sign was set up on the street with a picture of Officer Emilia Rennhack outside the home where her funeral was held Saturday in New Hyde Park.
Rennhack was one of four people killed when an alleged drunk driver crashed into a nail salon in Deer Park last Friday.
Pictured left to right: Jiancai Chen, Emilia Rennhack and Meizi Zhang
Also killed in the crash were Jiancai ‘Kenny’ Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens, Yan Xu, 41, of Flushing, Queens, and Meizi Zhang, 50, of Flushing, Queens.
The 30-year-old was off-duty at the time, getting her nails done for a wedding.
Officer Rennhack was assigned to the 102nd Precinct in Queens, where her husband is a detective.
Police say Steven Schwally, 64, was drunk when he plowed an SUV through Hawaii Nail Salon.
Schwally, of Dix Hills, has been charged with DWI, and additional charges could still be filed against him.
This is not Schwally’s first DWI incident. He pleaded guilty to similar charges in Suffolk County in March 2013.
Schwally was held on $1 million cash bail at his arraignment Monday afternoon in Central Islip.
Prosecutors say he is a Marine Corps veteran who is living at a Motor Inn in Commack.
He told police he had 18 beers the night before the crash, and stopped drinking at 4 a.m.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Among the victims – an off-duty NYPD officer and three members of the salon staff, who were all beloved by the community.
Hawaii Nail and Spa in Deer Park was where customers used to go to feel beautiful.
“Last Thursday Joy did my manicure and Jenny did my pedicure. She would always pick my colors,” said customer Patricia Castillo.
It was where customers felt like family.
Now, the spa is boarded up and is covered with all the markings of sorrow – candles, flowers and condolences.
“They were gorgeous. I’ve been going here 15 years. I love them all, they are like family,” added Karen McClorey.
On Friday afternoon, a speeding SUV crashed all the way through the store, killing three beloved staff members and off-duty NYPD offier Emilia Rennhack, 34.
Rennhack was getting her nails done for a wedding that night. She was also married to a detective in the same 102 Precinct.
Suffolk County Police believe the driver was so drunk he turned his vehicle into a weapon. Records show Steven Schwally, 64, has a prior DWI conviction.
As the community turns to prayers for comfort, they are left with the bitter loss that such gentle souls are now gone.
A candlelight vigil is planned for Monday night. Given the constant stream of mourners all weekend, the gathering is expected to be quite large and emotional.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
