An NYPD detective whose cop spouse was killed when a automotive crashed by way of a Lengthy Island nail salon wept in courtroom Monday – as prosecutors revealed the suspected drunk driver downed 18 beers earlier than the tragedy.
Det. Carl Rennhack was overcome with emotion in a Suffolk County courtroom and fellow NYPD cops comforted him as Steven Schwally was ordered held on $1 million bail on drunken driving fees within the crash that killed NYPD Police Officer Emilia Rennhack and three others on the Deer Park salon on Friday.
The newlywed couple met on the job and had solely married in September.
“The defendant’s car went by way of the intersection, went airborne, struck the curb in entrance of the Hawaii Nail & Spa, navigated by way of one empty parking spot and slammed by way of the Hawaiian Nail & Spa’s entrance window,” Suffolk County prosecutor Alexander Bopp mentioned in courtroom Monday.
“The defendant admitted to Suffolk County police detectives that he had consumed 18 beers the night time earlier than and indicated that he stopped consuming round 3 or 4 a.m.,” Bopp mentioned.
Schwally, 64, is dealing with driving whereas intoxicated fees within the lethal crash however Bopp mentioned the case is being offered to a grand jury, which his anticipated to carry extra severe fees within the case.
Schwally, who’s unemployed and residing in transient accommodations, is a veteran of the US Marine Cops and retired from a job at UPS, his lawyer mentioned in courtroom.
The accused drunk driver shook his head in courtroom however didn’t converse as he sat in a wheelchair in blue hospital scrubs and confronted Suffolk County Decide Bernard Cheng.
The Publish reported Monday that Schwally was busted for an earlier drunken driving incident in 2013, when he slammed right into a mailbox in Dix Hills, drove off and was nabbed asleep behind the wheel.
On Friday, Scwally was allegedly drunk once more when cops say he drove into the nail salon and killed or injured greater than a dozen individuals inside, together with a 12-year-old woman.
Rennhack, 30, was having her nails performed for a fellow cop’s marriage ceremony later within the day when she and the three others — Jiancai Chen, 37, Yan Xu, 41 and Meizi Zhang, 50 — have been killed.
Emilia Rennhack, born Emilia Kowalczyk, graduated from Worldwide Excessive College in Prospect Heights and went on to John Jay Faculty of Prison Justice, the place she performed soccer for the varsity.
She joined New York’s Best in 2018 and was most not too long ago assigned to the 102nd Precinct in Queens.
NYPD union president Patrick Hendry mentioned in a press release that her household now deserves justice.
“This particular person’s horrible selections have shattered the lives and turned dozens of households the wrong way up,” Hendry mentioned. “He shouldn’t have been behind the wheel that day, and he shouldn’t be again on the streets ever once more.”
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