'a great group of people'

NEW YORK (PIX11) — Authorities have released the names of the four victims who were killed and others injured when a suspected drunk driver plowed into a Long Island nail salon Friday afternoon.

The drunken diver, Steven Schwally, 64, was driving at a high rate of speed when he crossed Grand Boulevard and continued into the parking lot of 794 Grand Blvd., crashing his vehicle through the front window of Hawaii Nail & Spa around 4:32 p.m. , said the police.

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The four victims killed in the accident are

• Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens

• Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park

• Yan Xu, 41, of Flushing, Queens

• Meizi Zhang, 50, of Flushing, Queens

The owner, Jiancai Chen, Rennhack, an off-duty NYPD officer, and the two other customers were inside the business at the time of the crash.

“The general mood in the store was always happy,” said longtime customer John Vasallo, who said they had a go-to nail technician at the salon. “They, we are a great group of people, and it will be really sad to know that they won't be here anymore. »

For many in this tight-knit community, learning that the driver was arrested for drunk driving is horrifying. ” It's a shame. This is the society in which we live. People have no respect for other drivers or for people,” Vasallo added.

Nine people, including the driver, were taken to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Among the victims injured in this devastating accident are

• Nicole Miele, 54, of Dix Hills

• Ana Garcia, 53, of Bay Shore

• Wen Jun Cheng, 35, of Bayside, Queens

• Michael Mehale, 58, of Deer Park

Miele, Garcia, Cheng and Mehale remain in area hospitals being treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

• Carol Garcia, 23, of Bay Shore

• Toni Saccente, 32, of West Islip,

• Krystal Rodriguez, 37, of Bay Shore,

• Nicole Saccente, 55, of Cape Coral, Fla., and a

• A 12-year-old girl, whose identity is being withheld due to her age, was treated at area hospitals for injuries.

Steven Schwally, the alleged driver of the vehicle, who was intoxicated, remains hospitalized and is expected to be arraigned at a later date.

Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.

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