Long Island man charged in crash that killed four people at nail salon

A Long Island man was charged with driving while intoxicated after driving an SUV through a nail salon Friday afternoon, leaving four people dead and 10 injured, according to the Suffolk County police.

The driver, Steven Schwally, 64, crashed through the front window of Hawaii Nail and Spa in Deer Park, a hamlet in the town of Babylon, New York, around 4:30 p.m. Friday, police said.

Police identified the people who were killed as Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens; Yan Xu, 41, of Flushing, Queens; Meizi Zhang, 50, also of Flushing; and Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park. They were pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical workers.

Rennhack was an off-duty Queens police officer. She had been a member of the police force for more than five years and served in the 102nd Precinct in central Queens. Her husband is a detective in the same precinct.

Schwally, from Dix Hills, New York, suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and was taken to a hospital in West Islip, New York. He remained hospitalized Saturday evening. The nine other people injured included a 12-year-old girl, seven women and one man, according to police.

One of the people who was injured was taken by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital to be treated at its trauma center, according to Mark Stone, a spokesperson for the Deer Park Fire Department. Others with injuries were taken to South Shore University Hospital and Good Samaritan University Hospital by ambulance. On Saturday, police said four people in addition to Schwally were still hospitalized with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, and the rest had been discharged.

The salon was open at the time of the crash, and Stone said it appeared that most of those hurt were inside the salon at the time.

According to a police statement released Saturday morning, Schwally was driving a 2020 Chevy Traverse. He drove through the parking lot of a strip mall before crossing Grand Boulevard and smashing through the front of the salon.

Nine agencies responded to the crash, including fire departments from surrounding towns, and there were 150 firefighters and emergency medical responders on the scene, Stone said. Authorities closed Grand Boulevard to traffic for hours after the crash.

Police said Saturday that the investigation into the crash was continuing.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.