A convicted drunk driver was sentenced to a long time in jail for hitting and killing two center faculty tennis stars on Lengthy Island final spring.
Those that knew and beloved Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein packed the courtroom Friday and two overflow rooms for the sentencing of Amandeep Singh, who was in the end sentenced to 25 years in jail for inflicting the Could 3 wrong-way crash.
Singh had pleaded responsible final month to driving drunk and excessive, and crashing pickup truck at 90 miles an hour right into a automotive carrying the 2 highschool tennis gamers and two of their teammates.
Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz.
“What this man committed is just beyond thinkable, and he gets 25 years?” stated Mitch Hassenbein.
“[Ethan’s] future was limitless. And now we’re left with no recourse, no justice. Just a lifetime of pain, heartache and utter disbelief,” stated Gary Falkowitz.
Falkowitz’s dad was one among 9 relations who over the course of roughly two hours in a packed courtroom, condemned Singh as a assassin and talked in regards to the vibrant selfless teenagers Singh had killed.
“Why didn’t you go home, you turkey? You should have just gone home to your two kids,” shouted Jack Hassenbein, the 14-year-old’s grandfather.
After the crash, police physique cameras captured Singh mendacity about his involvement; he had run from the crash scene and was discovered hiding behind a dumpster.
In court docket for his sentencing, Singh apologized, “The disregard I showed for others makes me sick. If anyone should have died, it should have been me.”
“His eyes were down, he was crying. You know, this is just an unspeakable tragedy,” James Kousouros, Singh’s legal professional, stated.
Nassau County’s district legal professional, who stated Singh supplied “hollow words,” once more known as for more durable drunk driving penalties, a cry echoed by one of many crash survivors.
Zachary Sheena stated the crash left him with bodily and emotional scars, however he vowed to foyer for more durable penalties.
“I don’t know why I survived, but it will not be in vain,” Sheena stated in court docket.
