DA: Driver Threw Tequila Bottle Into Woods After Triple Fatal Crash

A Queens man who was driving drunk and rear-ended a vehicle on the Southern State Parkway in July, killing a father and his two children, removed a tequila bottle from the back seat of his car and tossed it in the woods after the crash, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said Wednesday.

O’Neil Sharpe Jr., 24, will be arraigned on an indictment in Central Islip on Thursday. He was originally charged with DWI and leaving the scene of an accident.

Sharpe was speeding in a 2008 BMW when he crashed into a 2005 Toyota on the westbound Southern State just west of Exit 41–Bay Shore Road–at about 1:30 a.m. on July 12. The Toyota burst into flames — killing Ancio Ostane, 37, of Queens, and his two children, Andy, 8, and Sephora, 4. Ostane’s wife, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, was able to escape from the burning vehicle and was treated and released from the hospital.

Sharpe fled the scene of the accident, but was arrested soon after the crash at a residence in Rockville Centre, police said. Sharpe is currently free on bond.

Video footage, which will be played at a news conference Thursday, shows Sharpe, parked near the burning wreckage of the car he rear-ended, removing a bottle from the rear seat of his car and tossing the bottle into the woods, Spota said.

The bottle was later recovered and determined to be a tequila bottle, he said.

Three other people–including Demetri Stewart, 23, who is accused of picking up Sharpe and fleeing the crash scene–will be arraigned on charges related to the crash on Thursday, Spota said.

Stewart is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, hindering prosecution and criminal facilitation. He is in jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail. The other two people charged have not yet been named.

Spota and and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone say they will call on state lawmakers to approve legislation increasing the penalty from a maximum of seven years to a maximum of 15 years in state prison for hit-and-run drivers convicted of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Photo: ABC 7 report screenshot