Two 14-Year-Olds Were Killed, Two Other Teenagers Injured
A Roslyn man pleaded guilty for his role in a fatal wrong-way DWI crash that killed two 14-year-old boys and injured two teenagers who were celebrating a victory in a high school tennis match.
Amandeep Singh, 36, pleaded guilty on January 3 before Judge Helene Gugerty to aggravated vehicular homicide (a Class B felony), two counts of second-degree manslaughter (a Class C felony), two counts of second-degree assault (a Class D violent felony), leaving the scene of an incident without reporting as a felony (a Class D felony), two counts of third-degree assault (a Class A misdemeanor), driving while ability impaired by combined influence of alcohol and a drug and driving while intoxicated (both unclassified misdemeanors).
“Amandeep Singh had every opportunity to make a different choice,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “After going out for drinks with friends, some of them hopped into a cab, but not this defendant.”
On May 3, 2023, at approximately 10:19 p.m., Singh was driving a 2021 Dodge Ram TRX on North Broadway in Jericho at 95 miles per hour, crossed over the road, and continued south in the northbound lanes while intoxicated and high on cocaine. He then crashed his vehicle into an oncoming Alfa Romeo that contained four teenage passengers.
An analysis of the event data recorder in Singh’s vehicle indicated that he was driving 75 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone at impact. Due to the force of the crash, 14-year-olds Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz, who were seated in the right side of the Alfa Romeo, were killed instantly. The two other teenage occupants of the vehicle were taken to the hospital with several injuries, including a concussion, a leg injury, and shards of glass that needed to be removed from one of the victim’s eyes.
Singh fled the crash scene and was apprehended nearby by members of the Nassau County Police Department. The defendant was hiding near a dumpster in the parking lot of a shopping center near where the collision occurred.
A search warrant for the defendant’s blood revealed Singh had a blood alcohol content of .15% approximately four hours after the crash and revealed the presence of cocaine.
The deceased teenagers attended Roslyn Middle School and were members of the Roslyn High School Tennis team. The teens had been out celebrating an earlier tennis match victory over a rival area high school at a local restaurant before the crash.
Singh is due back in court on February 7, 2025, and is expected to be sentenced to 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison.
“Throughout this prosecution my position was clear. Nothing short of the maximum prison sentence for the top count charged would be enough to hold this defendant accountable for the total devastation he caused the Hassenbein and Falkowitz families and their entire Roslyn community,” Donnelly said. “The evidence of this defendant’s guilt was overwhelming and left him with no choice but to finally take responsibility today for the lives he destroyed. Our thoughts continue to be with Drew and Ethan’s families, classmates, and friends as this defendant is finally brought to justice.”