A Wantagh man has been sentenced for fatally striking a man in the parking lot of a Woodbury diner last year.
On January 18, 2023 at approximately 2:30 p.m., Joseph Devito was standing on the sidewalk in front of the On Parade Diner, talking to a childhood friend. Willem Specht, who was highly intoxicated, struck Devito after rapidly reversing his car from a parking spot. Specht narrowly avoided striking Mr. Devito’s friend as well.
Devito suffered catastrophic head injuries and died shortly afterwards at Syosset Hospital.
After hitting Devito, Specht continued to drive his 2004 Infiniti G35 in reverse and drove over another sidewalk, striking a ramp and a metal fence leading into the diner. He continued in reverse and struck the exterior wall of the diner. He then drove forward and stopped his car in a parking spot in the direction where he originally came from. He exited his car, stood in the diner’s parking lot for a short period of time, and then attempted to leave the scene but was stopped by a witness. Specht was arrested shortly thereafter by the Nassau County Police Department.
A search warrant for the defendant’s blood taken at the hospital revealed that his blood alcohol content was 0.18% more than three hours after the incident.
Specht, 63, pleaded guilty on August 26, 2024, before Judge Meryl Berkowitz to aggravated vehicular homicide (a Class B felony), second-degree assault (a Class D violent felony) and aggravated driving while intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor). He was sentenced on September 25, 2024 to seven to 15 years in prison.
“In the middle of the afternoon on January 18, 2023, Willem Specht got behind the wheel of his car more than twice the legal limit for alcohol, put it in reverse, and mowed down 61-year-old grandfather Joseph Devito,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “During the course of this prosecution and against court orders, Specht continued to drink brazenly and publicly. Surveillance video even captured the defendant entering his local liquor store, buying a bottle of vodka, and uncapping it right in the parking lot at the same time he was scheduled and failed to appear for a court date in Joseph Devito’s tragic death. Joseph was a dependable and compassionate man. Specht’s irresponsible drinking and reckless choices robbed the Devito family of a husband and father’s supportive presence. I hope that this defendant uses his significant prison sentence to reflect on the heartbreak that he has caused.”