Suspect Denies Charges In Long Island Crash That Killed Father, 2 Children
BAY SHORE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The driver accused of causing a fiery crash that killed a father and his two children on Long Island faced a judge on Monday.
Oneil Sharpe Jr., 24, was arraigned on charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident. He was ordered held on $250,000 cash bail or a $500,000 bond.
Sharpe, of Springfield Gardens, Queens, denied the charges at criminal court in Central Islip, but he said nothing to reporters outside, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.
Suspect Denies Charges In Long Island Crash That Killed Father, 2 Children
Sharpe's attorney, Harry Tilis, refused to admit his client was driving the vehicle or even at the scene.
"You were in the courtroom and you heard him deny the charges, and he's looking forward to seeing that all of his rights are appropriately protected," Tilis told reporters, including WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs.
Tilis also questioned the blood-alcohol test that was taken hours after the accident. Sharpe's family sat silently in the courtroom.
Suspect Denies Charges In Long Island Crash That Killed Father, 2 Children
"They did not allege that that reading was indicative of what happened if he was even driving," he told 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon.
John Scott Prudenti, who heads the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office's Vehicular Crimes Bureau, said investigators can prove Sharpe was at the scene of the crash.
According to police, Sharpe rear-ended the BMW he was driving into a Toyota on the Southern State Parkway near exit 41 in Bay Shore around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Toyota burst into flames with 37-year-old Ancio Ostane, his 8-year-old son, Andy, and 4-year-old daughter, Sephora, all trapped inside.
The children's mother, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, was the only one who was able to escape and desperately tried to save her family.
"This car started to get set to fire, and I tried to open the passenger's back door because this is where my daughter was because I heard my daughter cry," she said.
Prosecutors say Sharpe fled the scene on foot, making no effort to help the victims in the burning vehicle. They said his vehicle was left behind while he was later found at his family's home in Nassau County.
Bouaz-Ostane is now without her kids and husband and is struggling to make sense of this loss.
"If it's up to me, I don't have any future," she said. "I don't have a reason to live."
Her daughter was excited to start kindergarten, and her son had just made his first communion. Her husband, like her, was from Haiti.
At the family's St. Albans, Queens, home, Bouaz-Ostane's loved ones and community continued to rallying around her Monday.
"I know it's going to be hard for her," said neighbor Ralph Wilkinson. "I know it's going to be tough."
Sharpe is due back in court Friday. The judge also suspended Sharpe's license.
