Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Lindenhurst man pleaded guilty today to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide for an August 2023 East Massapequa crash in which he killed a father and three children and injured two other teenagers.
Michael DeAngelo, 33, pleaded guilty today before Judge Robert Schwartz to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony); four counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree (a C felony); Aggravated Vehicular Assault (a C felony); Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony); Assault in the Third Degree (an A misdemeanor); and Driving While Ability Impaired by the Combined Influence of Drugs as a Felony (an E felony).
DeAngelo has two prior convictions for Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs. Due to these prior convictions, the defendant was charged with felony Driving While Ability Impaired by the Combined Influence of Drugs.
The defendant is due back in court for sentencing on June 28, 2024. He is expected to be sentenced to 7-21 years in prison. The NCDA recommended the maximum sentence of 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison.
“Michael DeAngelo is one of the most staggeringly reckless defendants I have ever known. Just days before he rocketed his vehicle into Patrice Huntley and his children on Sunrise Highway, DeAngelo was arrested for alleged possession of crack cocaine and separately ran from authorities after being administered Narcan for an apparent overdose,” said DA Donnelly. “Three days after fleeing from officers, he got behind the wheel of his car, high on a dangerous cocktail of fentanyl and cocaine, pushed the accelerator to 120 miles per hour, and ended the lives of a former Marine and three beautiful children on their way to get ice cream. No sentence will ever be enough to ease the pain of this heartbroken family, their friends, and their community. How many more hearts must break before people learn that drugged driving destroys lives?”
DA Donnelly said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on August 6, 2023, at approximately 7:15 p.m., 60-year-old Patrice Huntley was stopped at a traffic light in his 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe on Sunrise Highway at Unqua Road in East Massapequa.
Defendant DeAngelo, impaired by both fentanyl and cocaine, drove his 2023 Hyundai Kona directly into multiple vehicles stopped at the light. Huntley’s vehicle was struck with such force that the SUV was pushed through the intersection and spun around so that it was facing oncoming traffic. DeAngelo’s vehicle went airborne and landed upside down.
According to the event data recorder inside the Kona, the defendant was driving approximately 120 miles per hour and did not brake until less than a half second before the impact. The defendant struck the victims at approximately 95 miles per hour.
Huntley, a Marine veteran, was celebrating a recent job offer and had taken five members of his family out for ice cream.
As a result of the crash, Patrice Huntley, his 10-year-old son Jeremiah Huntley, and his 13-year-old daughter Hannah Huntley were killed and pronounced deceased that same night.
Huntley’s 18-year-old stepdaughter and six-year-old step-granddaughter, Chantel Solomon, suffered catastrophic injuries. His 14-year-old son was also hurt in the crash.
Six-year-old Chantel Solomon succumbed to her injuries six days later on August 12, 2023.
DeAngelo was observed to have signs of drug use, including track marks on his arm and hands, and needles and a pipe were discovered in and around his vehicle.
The defendant was transported to Nassau University Medical Center with injuries and was arrested by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad in the hospital on August 11, 2023.
Deputy Bureau Chief Katie Zizza of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Karl Seman, Esq.