Parents Of Girls Killed In Crash 'Pleased' By Limo Reform Law

NORTH FORK, NY — After years of advocating tirelessly for change, the parents of four young women killed in a horrific limousine crash in Cutchogue are applauding comprehensive limousine reforms agreed upon by both the Senate and Assembly this week.

On Tuesday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the slate of comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles that will be included in the 2019 executive budget.

Following the horrific tragedy involving a modified stretch limousine in Schoharie County in 2018 that killed 20 and the North Fork limo crash in 2015, the governor said he has committed to enacting essential safety reforms into law. In January, 2019, Cuomo announced comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles.

"We are advancing reforms that will give aggressive new powers that will allow authorities to take dangerous vehicles off the roads without delay, hold unscrupulous businesses accountable and increase public safety in every corner of New York," Cuomo said.

Reforms, Cuomo said, include an "outright ban" on the registration of remanufactured limousines, prohibiting their operation in New York State; a requirement that drivers hold a commercial driver license with a special passenger endorsement to operate a for hire vehicle with 8 or more passengers; making it a felony to remove an out of service sticker placed by a DOT inspector from a vehicle without having the vehicle re-inspected and cleared by DOT to return to service and increasing the civil penalty to a maximum fine of $25,000 per violation for any person found operating with suspended DOT operating authority or operating a vehicle without authority.

Other reforms include establishing stronger registration suspension and vehicle impoundment powers, including an explicit process for immediate suspension of operating authority by the DOT commissioner in circumstances that endanger the health, safety, and welfare of the public; authorizing the DOT and DMV to seize suspended license plates; making it a felony for any owner/operator to tamper with a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard tag or vehicle inspection sticker; and ensuring vehicle impoundment occurs for felony violations and subjecting multiple violators to the potential for civil forfeiture of vehicle.

Additional changes include requiring mandatory reporting by inspection stations to DMV if a vehicle attempts an unauthorized inspection; creating new criminal penalties for any DMV-regulated inspection station that illegally issues an inspection sticker; prohibiting U-turns for larger vehicles on all roads within the state; eliminating the exception to seatbelt requirements for limousines, buses, taxis, liveries, and school buses; and establishing a DOT inspection fee of $120 per inspection for vehicles subject to such inspection.

Reflecting on the reforms, Paul Shulman of Smithtown, whose daughter whose daughter Brittney Shulman, 23, was one of four young women, including Stephanie Belli, 23, Amy Grabina, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, killed, said after months of hard work, all that's left is for Cuomo to sign the measure into law.

"It is so much more than we were expecting. We are all very pleased," he said. But, Shulman added: "It's bittersweet. I’m really happy about it, but I wish it wasn’t necessary."

Other East End lawmakers applauded the reforms. "New Yorkers rent limousines for birthdays, weddings and a host of other special occasions," said New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele. "But we've seen some of these joyous days end in devastating heartbreak because the vehicles used to transport our families weren't safe or the businesses who owned those vehicles were careless. These horrific tragedies are a call to action to do everything we can to prevent another senseless crash from occurring."

In the months after the tragedy in Schoharie, it was reported that the state Department of Transportation had been investigating the limousine company involved in the crash more than a year before it occurred and had ordered the limousine off the road twice after it had failed safety inspections, Thiele said.

The reform package also includes a bill that would require the DOT and the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish and publicize a toll-free hotline that allows individuals to report safety issues regarding stretch limousine vehicles or drivers.

Thiele laudd the bill that would require the installation of approved seatbelts in all stretch limousines and that they be clearly visible, accessible and in good working condition. The legislative package also includes measures to require motor carriers to conduct pre-employment and random drug and alcohol testing of drivers who operate stretch limousines, taxis and liveries that hold nine or more passengers, including the driver.

Nancy DiMonte, whose daughter Joelle was injured in the Cutchogue crash, has urged that full slate of reforms, including the need for seat belt in limos; the CDL requirement, she said, was critically important because drivers must be drug tested. "We're pushing for that," DiMonte said last year.

The parents, however, were pleased when reforms they'd advocated tirelessly for, including no U-turns on public or privately owned roads, tougher inspection laws, greater fines, classifying certain offenses as felonies, and higher insurance rates, were given the green light.

"We were thrilled," DiMonte said. "We feel great. We are so grateful finally that people are going to have accountability, so maybe there will be an attitude change."

"We would like to thank Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his staff. With their help, what we accomplished is huge," Shulman said in a previous interview. "There was no accountability before."

"This is a real testament to safety, accountability — and the girls," DiMonte said. "This was done on their behalf."

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. The NTSB's preliminary report shed no new light on the cause of the crash.

Advocating for change

Last year, the family, friends and loved ones of the four young women killed in the 2015 limo crash met at LABS Lane, located at Smithtown High School West, to advocate and support the proposed bill for the safety of limousines.

Four survivors of the collision, Olga Lipets, Alicia Arundel, Joelle DiMonte and Melissa Crai, were also horribly injured.

As for DiMonte, she said: "My relatives, my friends, we think about this every day. I think, 'I'm so lucky to have my kid.' We parents, we've bonded, and I think, 'My God, they'll never see their kid again.' It's a raw, painful experience. I don't think you can erase what happened; however, passing this bill is a testament to the lives and loss of our daughters."

Her daughter, DiMonte said, still can't talk about that dark, horrific day. "The emotion is raw. I do this on her behalf," she said.

The 2015 crash took place at the intersection of County Road 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, "when the driver of a stretch limousine made a U-turn on a double lane road where no signal was indicated for oncoming traffic. As the driver made the U-turn, an oncoming driver with limited time to react, collided with the limousine, which ended in complete disarray," a petition written by the families stated.

"A day in which eight women decided to be safe and take what was supposed to be safe and reliable transportation, turned into the complete opposite. . . Eight women went to the wineries for a fun, exciting day, and only four came home . . . only to begin what will be the toughest journey of their lives," the petition said.

And, after the Cutchogue crash, the parents of the eight young women have been unified in their cry for a green turning arrow at the Depot Lane traffic signal, despite the fact that Suffolk County has not yet installed one — and have said there is no present plans to do so.

A day that haunts

Each of the four families who lost their daughters has chosen to honor their daughter by giving yearly scholarships to worthy students.

"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 the limo driver before the North Fork limo crash. The words were revealed as part of a a 156-page New York Supreme Court Suffolk County Special Grand Jury Report released in Dec. 2016, with recommendations discussed at a press conference.

At the time, Spota prophetically said something needed to be done so that an similar accident would never happen again. "There's nothing but a fine line between a stretch limousine and a hearse," he said.