On Limo Crash Anniversary, Reforms Move Forward: 'It Was Not In Vain'

LONG ISLAND, NY — Thursday marks four years since the horrific Schoharie limo crash killed 18 inside the vehicle and two pedestrians. And in July, families of four young women who died in a Cutchogue limo crash mourned seven years, without them.

Despite limo safety regulations that have already been embraced, families impacted by those tragedies have advocated for greater change, so that no others have to endure the loss that shaped their lives forever.

Nancy DiMonte, whose daughter Joelle was one of the four that survived the Cutchogue crash, was a member of New York's Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force, which recently completed its mission and put forth new recommendations, with the next step including them being signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

With 154 pages of recommendations, some of the key points that need to be addressed, DiMonte told Patch, include removing limos from the road that are more than 10 years old or have driven 350,000 miles; more stringent inspection of equipment; augmented driver training and driver drug testing; pre-trip safety training for limo passengers; and enhanced side panel protection.

DiMonte said that while she's pleased with the recommendations put forth, the inspector general's report into the Schoharie crash, which the panel has not seen, would have helped them to craft a more thorough response.

DiMonte said the outcry for limo reform came after the 2015 limo crash in Cutchogue that took the lives of four young women and left four others seriously injured.

Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, both of Smithtown, Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack, all lost their lives. Injured in the crash were Joelle M. DiMonte, 25, of Ellwood, Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket, and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn.

The bills were spearheaded after the Cutchogue crash and the New York limo safety task force took even greater strides for safety. "That was a complete blessing, that we were able to do this," DiMonte said.

Looking ahead, DiMonte believes the task force needs to reconvene to ensure followup and to see that the recommendations and safety measures are enforced once Hochul signs them into law, which she expects will happen.

Despite the blanket of grief that still hangs heavy over the families after the limo crashes, DiMonte is grateful for the steps taken toward reform.

In 2020, after years of advocating tirelessly for change, parents applauded comprehensive limousine reforms agreed upon by both the Senate and Assembly.

Now, with new recommendations moving ahead, DiMonte said the push for safety has resulted in concrete change.

"I do believe that the industry, which was not regulated correctly for decades, will now be more regulated — it will be safe. As a parent you take a lot of pride in the fact that what happened to the deceased and the survivors — it was not in vain."

As a mother, it was empowering to know that she could raise her voice as a person who's been through what the families have, and change things for others down the road. "We don't want what happened to us, to happen to someone else," DiMonte said. "That's why you do these things. You don't get money or accolades. You just don't want to see it happen to another family."

It's critical that the recommendations are implemented and upheld, DiMonte said.

In the case of the Cutchogue crash, DiMonte said litigation is ongoing and the fight for justice continues. "Our main goal was not only to get these reforms implemented, but also to get justice and accountability. We have vowed that no one on the North Fork will ever forget what happened that day."

Seven years later, she said, and the grief is ever-present, with the surviving women still receiving medical treatment after the crash.

DiMonte said during the fall, when wineries are bustling and the North Fork roads are packed with pumpkin pickers and traffic, she believes the potential for limo U-turns and crashes still exists.

DiMonte said she is also urging Hochul to sign the Grieving Families Act, which Kurt Kiess, who lost his son Ryan in a July 2020 head-on crash in Quogue that killed five, has worked tirelessly to see come to fruition.

A memorial to the girls killed in the limo crash has been dismantled, and DiMonte said her hope is that in the future, that once again be restored, to pay tribute to their lives.

In the years since the 2015 crash, the families have strived to raise awareness about limousine safety and to keep the memory of their daughters alive. In 2018, the lane at the entrance to Smithtown High School West, known as LABS Lane, was dedicated in tribute to the girls.

Despite all the advances made toward safety, there is more work to be done, DiMonte and the parents said. Locally, a green turning arrow has still not been installed at the Cutchogue crash site, despite repeated requests to Suffolk County, she said.

Also, she said, litigation against Southold Town and Suffolk County remains "at a standstill."

Seven years may have passed, DiMonte said, but there is still an urgency; their story needs to be told, again and again, so no other families have to bear the unthinkable agony that all have lived with, since that sunny July day.

"We've got to keep the memory alive," she said. "As soon as you forget, there's complacency. There are still limos out there — this is the season for wine, and all we want to do is try and make sure people remain safe."

The push for change has been ongoing since the crash.

"You see these eight beautiful babies? The way I'm leaving them with you, I want them back."

Those were the heartbreaking words Felicia Baruch uttered to limo driver Carlos Pino before a Cutchogue limo crash.

The words were revealed as part of a 156-page New York Supreme Court Suffolk County Special Grand Jury Report in 2016, with recommendations discussed at a press conference convened by then-Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Findings indicated that the grand jury would like to see U-turns by modified or stretch limos banned in Suffolk County and New York State, enhanced driver certification requirements, and a new traffic light at County Road 48 with a green turning arrow with a red phase for both eastbound and westbound traffic.

The "lack of regulations" regarding stretch limos was cited, as was the "inadequate traffic light" at County Road 48 and Depot Lane, Spota said.

Spota said something needs to be done so that an similar accident will never happen again.

"There's nothing but a fine line between a stretch limousine and a hearse," he said.

After a year-long, comprehensive investigation including the testimony of four dozen witnesses and the review of thousands of documents, the grand jury produced the report, detailing the circumstances that led to the fatalities, a release from Spota's office said.

Photos of the limousine wreckage and a photo of a new stretch limousine’s "woefully inadequate 'anti-intrusion bar' installed to 'protect passengers'" were featured.

An intrusion bar aimed to protect side impacts to passengers "did absolutely no good" and offered no protection for the young women, Spota said. The rod was "woefully inadequate and unacceptable," the report determined, with the force of impact knocking it right off the side of the limo.

The limousine, driven by Pino and owned by Ultimate Class Limousine, Inc., was transporting the eight young women touring local wineries on July 18, 2015, Spota said; at approximately 5:11 p.m, the limo, while making a U-turn at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, was broadsided by a pickup truck driven by Steven Romeo.

Pino, 58, of Bethpage, was also hurt in the crash. Romeo pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired by alcohol, a traffic infraction, in 2017. The limo driver, Carlos Pino, was charged with criminally negligent homicide, failure to yield the right of way and other charges in an indictment but Justice Fernando Camacho dismissed the indictment.

The dead in the Schoharie crash included four sisters and newlywed couples, many from nearby Amsterdam. They were on an excursion to a craft brewery to celebrate a birthday. One of them had texted minutes before the crash about the awful condition of the stretch limo, which was a last-minute substitute for a bus the group had rented.

The 2001 Ford Excursion SUV stretch limousine was traveling on State Route 30 when it blew through a stop sign into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country store and struck a parked Toyota Highlander. The Highlander then plowed into two people standing nearby. They and everyone in the limo died.

The stretch SUV was not federally certified, and had failed inspection a month before; and the driver was not properly licensed, officials said at the time.

The crash, the most deadly transportation incident in the United States since 2009 according to the National Transportation Safety Board, drew national attention and state efforts toward more regulation of stretch SUVs.