Three women killed by alleged drunk driver after leaving Sweet 16 party on LI
Three women were killed when an alleged drunken driver crashed into their livery car after they left a Sweet 16 party on Long Island, police and sources said Sunday.
Dante Lennon, 22, was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz sedan when he allegedly T-boned a Lincoln Town Car carrying a ride-hail driver and five other passengers, at around 11:11 p.m. Saturday in New Hyde Park, outside an event venue on the Jericho Turnpike, according to the Nassau County Police Department and a report.
The three female passengers, who were in the back seat of the town car, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The others in the Lincoln were taken to nearby hospital, and are in stable condition, the Nassau County Police Department said.
Lennon was charged with a DWI and three counts of vehicular manslaughter, cops said. The Freeport, Long Island, resident was taken to a local area hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. He will appear in court when he is well enough to do so, according to police.
A law-enforcement source told The Post the women who were killed had just left a Sweet 16 party at the Inn at New Hyde Park. The venue hosts weddings, bar mitzvahs, Quinceañeras and other celebrations, according to its website.
Surveillance footage obtained by CBS2 shows the driver of the Lincoln slowly turning left onto Jericho Turnpike when the Mercedes rams into it — sending both cars flying down the road.
A witness who works at a nearby restaurant told the TV station he heard a loud bang, ran outside, saw the destroyed cars and called 911.
“Right away, I just see a Mercedes-Benz coming through, crashing into an Uber driver that was turning,” said the Table 7 employee, according to CBS2. “It looked like a T-bone, a little bit, and it was devastating.”
“Very disturbing, never seen that ever in my life,” witness Jaylen Augustin told freedomnews.tv. “[W]hy would that happen? I just can’t believe it.”
