Funeral set for Emilia Rennhack, NYPD officer killed in traffic accident; mourning continues in Deer Park

Mourners joined their hands in front of the boarded-up nail salon in Deer Park on Sunday. Two days earlier, four people died and nine others were injured when a suspected drunk driver sped through the business.

Other relatives continued the laborious planning of memorial services for the dead, including an NYPD officer from Deer Park, a resident of Bayside, Queens, and two residents of Flushing.

“It’s devastating,” said Denise LoCicero, a Deer Park resident and longtime customer of the salon, who added a bouquet of pink flowers to a makeshift memorial growing outside the salon.

LoCicero and more than a half-dozen others formed a prayer circle outside the store Sunday morning, holding hands as workers arrived to clear away the broken glass and remaining debris.

Another vigil is planned at 7 p.m. Monday on Grand Boulevard to remember those killed: Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens; Yan Xu, 41, and Meizi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing; and NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park.

Officer Service Set

“Please join us in remembering and honoring the victims and survivors of the salon tragedy,” read signs at the mall announcing Monday’s vigil.

Funeral services for Rennhack, who was off-duty with the NYPD and in the saloon at the time of the accident, are scheduled to begin Friday, the New York City Police Benevolent Association said.

Rennhack’s family, including her husband, NYPD Detective Carl Rennhack, will receive visitors from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday at the New Hyde Park Funeral Home on Lakeville Road, a PBA spokesman confirmed. A memorial service will be held at noon Saturday at the same location.

Funeral arrangements for the other three victims were not known. Attempts by Newsday to speak to family members at publicly available addresses were unsuccessful on Sunday.

Steven Schwally, 64, of Dix Hills, who allegedly drove his 2020 Chevy Traverse into the front of the salon around 4:30 p.m. Friday, was charged with drunken driving. Schwally was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. He remained hospitalized Sunday, and a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Schwally will be arraigned at a later date.

The nail salon is located in a shopping center that is next to a traffic light and across from a Kohl’s. Other stores in the mall have reopened.

According to police, Schwally drove “at a high rate of speed” through the parking lot in front of Kohl’s and a Stop & Shop, then crossed Grand Boulevard and continued through the small parking lot in front of the salon, where he crashed through the front window.

On Sunday, police officers did not provide any further details about the speed at which Schwally was traveling or where he had been before the accident.

Workers and customers trapped

Employees and customers were trapped in the out-of-control vehicle, said Deer Park Fire Department’s third deputy chief, Dominic Albanese, on Friday.

As she took in the scene on Sunday, LoCicero picked up a worn photograph and stood it upright. It showed five smiling workers next to a customer who was waving his hands. LoCicero put her hands to her face.

She learned of the accident from her husband, Bob Dimisa. He had pulled into the parking lot on Friday to get something from the liquor store next door when he saw the salon engulfed in smoke.

“I thought a bomb had exploded,” Dimisa said on Sunday.

He described hearing screams and moans coming from the store afterward. Dimisa said he saw rescue workers entering the destroyed building and pulling victims out.

The United Way of Long Island, which is across Grand Boulevard from the nail salon, plans to offer assistance to surviving employees who are no longer employed, said Theresa Regnante, president and CEO of the statewide nonprofit’s Long Island office.

“We help families in need,” she said Sunday, adding that some of her employees are customers of the salon.

Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park, was an officer in the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill, Queens, where her husband also worked, police officials said. The couple married last September.

Rennhack, born Emilia Kowalczyk, began working for the NYPD in January 2018, department records show, and had been based at the 102nd Precinct since May 2019. She made 165 arrests during her career and had recently completed training in stop-and-frisk encounters and dealing with people in mental health crises, department records show.

According to the college’s website, Rennhack attended International High School in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

Honor in the area

Flowers, purple flags and a photo of Rennhack were on display in the 102nd precinct on Sunday morning.

According to police, four other people were taken to the hospital for treatment with serious but non-life-threatening injuries: Nicole Miele, 54, of Dix Hills; Ana Garcia, 53, of Bay Shore; Michael Mehale, 58, of Deer Park and Wen Jun Cheng, 35, of Bayside, Queens.

Five other people, including a 12-year-old girl, were treated in hospitals for less serious injuries, police said.

A hospital spokesman said Mehale, who was flown by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, was in acceptable condition on Sunday.

A spokesman for South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, where three of the injured were admitted on Friday, said that only one of the injured was still in the hospital’s care by Sunday afternoon.

A spokesman for Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, where the driver and five other people were treated, said only that the hospital had treated six patients related to the accident and otherwise declined to provide any information on the current status.

Records show that Schwally pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, a misdemeanor, in April 2014 after being arrested by Suffolk police in March 2013. Schwally received a suspended sentence in that case, had his license suspended and was fined $500.