In a reversal, Amandeep Singh pleads guilty in deadly wrong-way crash on Long Island
MINEOLA, N.Y. - The driver in a wrong-way crash that killed two middle schoolers on Long Island pled guilty Friday.
It was a reversal for Amandeep Singh, who pled guilty to the top charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and manslaughter.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to a 15-count indictment including aggravated vehicular homicide, leaving the scene, and driving while drunk and impaired.
Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly said there was no plea deal and no reduced sentence. Singh, a 36-year-old Roslyn construction executive, will receive the maximum 8 and a third-to-25 years on the top count of aggravated vehicular homicide. He also pled guilty to leaving the scene.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 7.
Crash killed two teen tennis players
Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz, both 14, were killed in the crash. Their relatives packed the courtroom Friday and were sobbing as Singh answered "Yes, your honor," admitting that on May 3, 2023, he was impaired by alcohol and cocaine and was driving the wrong way in Jericho.
Donnelly said Singh was "rocketing" at 95 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone.
"Surveillance video captured the crash and shows Singh's truck going airborne after striking the boys' car, violently flips and rolls," Donnelly said.
Police body camera video showed him hiding behind a dumpster.
"He was unsteady on his feet. He was disoriented. His speech was slurred," Donnelly said. "He was adamant he wasn't involved in a crash."
Hassenbein and Falkowitz were elite tennis players returning from a match when they were killed. They were doing everything right, Donnelly said, but shared the road with a drunk and drugged driver.
"He just killed them"
"He's a bad guy. Never said he was sorry. Killed two boys. It wasn't an accident, he just killed them. Never said he was sorry," Drew Hassenbein's grandfather Mitchell Hassenbein said.
Singh's attorney says there is remorse but until Friday they advised him not to speak.
"Today, Amandeep Singh accepted full responsibility for what happened on that tragic night. He will live with it for the rest of his life. Irrespective of the punishment the justice system gives him, he will feel his own punishment forever," defense attorney James Kousouros said.
"He understands that by drinking and driving, it really is a lesson to the community on how dangerous it is and what can happen," defense attorney Edward Sapone said.
Donnelly has been lobbying to increase penalties in these preventable deaths, so that if more than one person is killed with a car it will be no different than killing multiple people with a gun.
