Victims in fatal Long Island crash identified: ‘a great bunch of people’

NEW YORK (PIX11) — Officials released the names of the four victims who were killed and the others injured due to an alleged intoxicated driver crashing into a Long Island nail salon on Friday afternoon.

The intoxicated diver, 64-year-old Steven Schwally, was driving at a high rate of speed when he crossed over Grand Boulevard and continued through the parking lot of 794 Grand Blvd., crashing his vehicle through the front window of Hawaii Nail & Spa around 4:32 p.m., police said.

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The four victims killed in the accident are

  • Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens
  • Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park
  • Yan Xu, 41, of Flushing, Queens
  • Meizi Zhang, 50, of Flushing, Queens

The owner, Jiancai Chen, Rennhack, an off-duty NYPD officer , and the other two customers were inside the business at the time of the accident.

“The whole vibe in the store was always happy,” said long-time customer John Vasallo, who said they had a go-to nail tech at the salon. “They, we’re a great bunch of people, and it’s going to be a really sad time knowing they won’t be here anymore.”

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