Parents of Girls Killed in Horrific Limo Crash Rally For Change

NORTH FORK, NY — A group of parents, whose lives were irrevocably changed after a tragic Cutchogue limo crash in 2015 left four young women dead and four badly injured, is advocating tirelessly for change so that no other family ever has to walk in their shoes.

The parents have organized two rallies to push for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles that they say must remain included in the 2019 budget.

On Sunday at 10:30 a.m. 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.

A second rally is also being planned for the North Fork at the site of the horrific crash, with a date and time to follow.

"It is vital that we gather to demonstrate the mission and the goal of this bill in an effort to have it remain in the governor's budget plan for 2019," the parents wrote in a statement. "If you cannot make it please contact your local legislator's office and express the value the bill will add to the safety of anyone who uses limousines."

In January, Cuomo announced comprehensive safety reforms for limousines and large passenger vehicles that will be included in the 2019 executive budget.

The reforms come in the wake of a devastating crash involving a modified stretched limousine in Schoharie County killed 20 people in 2018, Cuomo said.

"This crash was a horrific tragedy that shocked this state to its very core," Cuomo said. "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."

Since the North Fork crash, the parents of the young women killed have been advocating tirelessly for reform. On Wednesday, Paul Shulman, whose daughter Brittney Shulman, 23, was one of four young women, including Stephanie Belli, 23, Amy Grabina, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, killed, said the need for change is critical.

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

Should the bill be "kicked around" up in Albany, "they'll probably end up watering it down," Shulman said.

Since the crash, Shulman said, "there has been no accountability. We need some type of accountability — and we can't let this get watered down."

If change is not embraced, tragedies will continue to rip apart families and lives, Shulman and the other parents say. "It's almost the summer season. Winery tours, strawberry picking, weddings. If they don't put this in the budget — what tragedy are they waiting for next?"

Parents say they have until March 31 to advocate for change and the need is urgent for individuals to contact their state representatives and push for the tighter regulations.

"I'm not doing this for selfish reasons," Shulman said. "I'm not doing this because I want to become rich and famous. I don't want to be a superstar. I mourn every day that my daughter isn't hear. I want accountability. And I don't want another family to have to walk in my shoes." He added: "I don't want lip service — I need action."

If one of the lawmakers' daughters had died in that crash, Shulman said, "the bill would have been passed a long time ago."

Nancy DiMonte, whose daughter Joelle was badly injured in the Cutchogue limo crash, outlined the proposals the families urge must be passed to replace or amend and modify the current legislation pertaining to limousine safety:

— Limousines are not permitted to make U-turns regardless if signage states that the turns are allowable, must stop at all railroad crossings, and cannot make right turns at red lights after stopping (must wait until light turns green to proceed). If a driver of the vehicle is in violation of these laws, he will incur consequences sanctioned by law.

- Limousines should be classified as are buses and adhere to those laws upheld for school buses and other CDL licensed drivers. Thereby, standards for any vehicle equipped to carry more than four passengers, regardless of weight, length, and number of passengers, should adhere to the same set of regulations across the board.

- Limousine drivers must undergo the recommended protocol to receive a CDL. All limousine drivers must hold a CDL in order to operate the vehicle. All laws pertaining to CDL drivers are punishable if violated by the limousine operator.

- Seat belts and airbags are required in all limousines and adhering to use of seat belts is the responsibility of the vehicle operator

- Limousines must be constructed according to engineered specifications as determined by safety standards. Additionally, any vehicle that fails inspection must be eliminated from its operation until it is deemed safe. Furthermore, limousine inspections should only be conducted by designated facilities that will adhere to specific safety guidelines assigned to these vehicles. Therefore, inspections of these vehicles must be performed in facilities that are regulated and are accountable to the state that appoints the facility as acceptable to perform these inspections. These facilities should be federally controlled, thereby imposing stringent safety inspections. The vehicles should be inspected more than one time a year and if any modifications are imposed on the vehicle between inspections, the facility will duly note. Additionally, a computer database will allow the technician to input all information which will be referred to in a database. Therefore, the facilitator will be held accountable for substandard inspections and failure to report any vehicle modifications. Thus the facility will incur penalty for wrongdoing.

- Precedence for limousine crash cases should include the events leading up to the 2015 Cutchogue crash. The McGrantham case must be eliminated as the precedent.

"We are frustrated," Shulman said. "We know we're so close. All we're looking to do is to see change so no one else has to suffer the way we are suffering. These are common sense changes. There has to be accountability."

Reflecting on life without his daughter, Shulman said: "Every day is a process. Some days are really bad. I get reminders. I get smells. I get a song. I walk in the house, see her room, her seat at the dinner table that is unoccupied. She used to come sit on the floor and say, 'My puppies!' and play with her dogs. I get reminders every day. This never should have happened. This was unavoidable. I have to go through the remainder of my life without my daughter — and this didn't have to happen. These girls were doing the right thing, and they ultimately have to pay the price for it. And no one is held responsible for what happened to them. It's mind-boggling."

The families, he said, "are traumatized for the rest of their lives."

DiMonte said the lack of accountability remains a "sore spot. Nobody is even getting slapped on the wrist. It's ridiculous."

And it's not just the families of the young women suffering, DiMonte said, but the entire North Fork community and first responders. "It's the ripple effect," she said. "This rocked the town, the most beautiful, quaint little place."

And now, she said, the parents are pushing hard to see the reforms adopted. "We're not going to take people's crap anymore," she said. "We are fighting. We're going to get out there and make noise."

If the proposed reforms don't get into the budget by March 31, she said, the legislation may get watered down, and the result, "a horrible, edited version of what we want." Or the legislation may not make the budget this year at all, she said.

"If you put yourself in my daughter's shoes — in one fell swoop, four people she knew died in that limousine — and four were in the hospital with serious medical problems. Bills are mounting. And the pain . . PTSD is lurking there for all of us."

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. "But she says, 'Mom, you're fighting so hard. This bill has to pass, and I'm worried that it won't.' I tell her, 'You're right to worry.'"

Dimonte urged the public to call upon their elected officials and tell them change is critical.

Cuomo proposes a number of reforms to both protect passengers and hold those accountable who "seek to defy the law: including a ban on the registration of remanufactured limousines, prohibiting their operation in New York State; a requirement that drivers hold a commercial driver's license with a special passenger endorsement to operate a for hire vehicle with eight or more passengers" — and the fact that it would now be a felony to remove an out of service sticker placed by a Department of Transportation inspector from a vehicle without having the vehicle re-inspected and cleared by DOT to return to service, he said.

In addition, Cuomo said he wants to increase 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 such authority, with those individuals subject to felony prosecution.

The governor also plans to establish 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. He would also authorize the DOT and Department of Motor Vehicles to seize suspended license plates; make it a felony for any owner/operator to tamper with a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard tag or vehicle inspection sticker; ensure vehicle impoundment occurs for purposes of felony violations and subject multiple violators to the potential for civil forfeiture of vehicle; and require mandatory reporting by inspection stations to the DMV if a vehicle attempts an unauthorized inspection.

Finally, Cuomo seeks to create new criminal penalties for any DMV-regulated inspection station that illegally issues an inspection sticker; prohibit U-turns for larger vehicles on all roads within the state; eliminate the exception to seatbelt requirements for limousines, buses, taxis, liveries, and school buses; and establish a DOT inspection fee of $120 per inspection for vehicles subject to such inspection.

After the most recent crash in Oct., 2018, North Fork residents remembered that dark day in July, 2015. One woman wrote on social media, reflecting what so many have been thinking: "It happened again."

The parents of the young women killed in 2015, who spent years imploring officials for limousine regulations, including the prohibition of U-turns for limos, added their voices to that of Cuomo, who said in 2018 that the limo should in Schoharie should never have been on the road at all, because it had failed a New York State Department of Transportation inspection just a month prior to the crash.

The 2018 horror unfolded when a 2001 Ford Excursion SUV stretch limousine was traveling in a southwestern direction on State Route 30 and ran a stop sign at the intersection with State Route 30A. The modified SUV plowed across the intersection into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country store and struck a parked Toyota Highlander; the Highlander then struck and killed two people standing nearby, police said.

New York State Police said it was not yet clear whether the brakes failed or whether the driver was speeding.

"To see something this tragic brings back bad memories of that day and to see what we have been advocating for, to save lives, totally disregarded — to allow this to happen just tears me up inside, when both accidents could have been avoided if the changes we are looking to make, were law," Shulman told Patch in 2018.

In 2017, Shulman and the other parents also led the "Lauren, Amy, Brittney, Stephanie," or LABS, petition. LABS, he said, is a petition to "bring awareness and justice to the horrific event that occurred."

And in the fall of 2018, after the crash that took 20 lives, Shulman said all the cries for change had tragically gone unheard: "The construction of limos for safety standards need to be adhered to, such as steel reinforced bras on the doors. There was one on my daughter's limo, but it was placed lower than where it was hit — no airbags or seat belts." Shulman said protocol needed to be followed to ensure limo companies abide by safety standards and there should be federal mandates; limo drivers, he said, needed to have CDL licenses, not a Class E with a P endorsement.
"This is what we have been advocating for," Shulman 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," the petition 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."

Urging changes
The years since that dark day have been filled with pain and grief for the heartbroken families left behind.

"It is still a struggle to come to a decision on who is held responsible for this accident," the petition said. "Every single day, the families, friends, loved ones, and unrelated individuals are reminded of the accident and the details involving the loss of four beautiful women. This petition is to advocate not only for Lauren, Amy, Brittney, and Stephanie, but for anyone who considers limousines as a reliable transportation option."

The parents, with an eye toward preventing future tragedies, listed a number of points they believe can save lives. To view that petition, click here.

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.

Community cloaked in mourning

Faded photographs and flowers have, for years, marked the spot where the four young women died after their limo was T-boned in the horrific crash more than three years ago.

The North Fork community has long been cloaked in mourning since the crash, with many residents echoing similar thoughts about how the memories of the worst tragedy they've ever witnessed, continue to haunt.

The limousine, driven by Pino and owned by Ultimate Class Limousine, Inc., was transporting the young women on July 18, 2015, former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas 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.

Spota said the DA's office planned to appeal the decision of a judge to throw out the indictment and dismiss charges against Pino. Romeo pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in April, 2017.

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 limo driver Carlos Pino before the limo crash in July, 2015 in Cutchogue that took the life of her daughter Lauren and three other young women, and left four others gravely injured. 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.

Findings indicated that the grand jury wanted 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.

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

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.