Four dead and nine injured in car crash at nail salon in Deer Park, firefighter says

Four people were killed and nine others were hospitalized with injuries when a car plowed through a nail salon in Deer Park Friday afternoon, according to Paul Lobell, a spokesman for the Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Department.

According to Dominic Albanese, Deer Park’s third assistant police chief, the minivan drove through the front of Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Boulevard at 4:40 p.m.

The out-of-control vehicle sped into the back of the store, trapping employees and customers inside, Albanese said.

Upon arrival, firefighters found four dead and took nine people to hospital, including one person who was taken from the scene by helicopter.

The driver of the minivan, whose identity has not yet been released, was semi-conscious and taken to hospital, Albanese said. The driver is expected to survive.

“There were people trapped and we rescued them and took everyone to nearby hospitals,” Albanese said. “They were trapped inside. Everyone was in the salon.”

Fire officials said it was unclear what caused the accident and whether it was accidental or intentional.

At 6:30 p.m., the minivan was still parked in the back of the store and appeared to have nearly hit a back wall. All of the display windows were destroyed.

“It’s awful. It’s awful. It can be hard on the community and even harder on the volunteer fire department, but we’re going to get through it,” Albanese said. “It’s just awful to watch, especially next year when there are so many good things happening, graduations and so on.”

The nail salon is located in a strip mall that also has a Dominican restaurant and a liquor store. The mall is next to a traffic light and across from a Kohl’s shopping center.

Nine fire stations and around 150 firefighters and paramedics as well as eight ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the accident.

The fire department has activated its crisis team due to a mass influx of victims.

Suffolk County Police did not respond to requests for comment on the accident.

Police and firefighters surrounded the scene of the accident, while spectators watched from across the street, some wiping tears from their eyes.

One woman, Ann Marie of Deer Park, said she was a regular at the nail salon and received a flood of calls asking if she had been at the salon after the 4:30 p.m. accident.

“They are such nice people, I’ve been going there since it opened at least 12 years ago,” she said. “I feel sick. It’s very sad.”

Eric Perez was loading groceries into his car in the parking lot across from the accident scene when he heard the sound of a passing car.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said. “You always hear noise. But then I heard something. It sounded like splintering… it was a sound I had never heard before.”

As Perez and his wife left the parking lot, they saw the horrific scene.

“We saw the ambulance and rescue workers pulling a body out,” he said. “And I saw two women who I believe worked there coming out on stretchers.”

With Deborah Morris
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