His 'Friends Trusted Him': Man Sentenced In Fatal East Farmingdale Crash

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A New Hyde Park man was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison in connection with a fatal 2021 car crash in East Farmingdale.

Steven Sharma, 24, drove with nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system and crashed his vehicle into a concrete median at a high speed, killing one of his passengers and injuring three others, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Thursday.

"The defendant's friends trusted him to get them home safely, but he did exactly the opposite," Tierney said in a news release. "The defendant's actions amounted to a lethal cocktail of choices that altered many lives. He left a family without a son, brother and loved one, and now he must bear the consequences of his criminal actions."

Sharma, during his guilty plea, admitted to driving himself and multiple passengers home after a night of drinking at 3:42 a.m. Sept. 19, 2021, officials said. While getting onto the exit ramp for southbound Route 110 in East Farmingdale, Sharma was speeding and failed to turn on the ramp, blew through a stop sign, and crashed his vehicle head-on into a concrete median on Route 110, prosecutors said.

Brandon Nazirbage, 22, of Floral Park, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, died at the scene, authorities said.

Sharma's three other passengers were taken to a hospital for treatment of their injuries, and one of them needed surgery to repair broken bones in their legs, investigators said.

Suffolk police and the prosecutor's office obtained a blood sample that Sharma provided at the hospital when he was being treated for his injuries. Sharma's blood alcohol content was 0.22%, nearly three times the legal limit. The blood sample also revealed the presence of THC, the active component of marijuana, Tierney said.

Sharma drove 76 mph on the ramp, which had a speed limit of 20 mph, prosecutors said.

Sharma in October pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of second-degree manslaughter, one count of second-degree assault, four counts of third-degree assault, one count of driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drugs or drugs, and one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated.

Sharma's license was revoked, and he was sentenced to prison Thursday. He was represented by Brian Griffin.