NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Long Island man pleaded guilty for a wrong-way crash last year that killed two 14-year-olds and injured two other teenagers as they drove home from a night celebrating a high school tennis match win, prosecutors announced on Friday.
Amandeep Singh, 36, admitted to driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he crashed his pickup truck into a car carrying the victims at 75 mph. The crash killed 14-year-old tennis stars Ethan Felkowitz and Drew Hassenbein from Roslyn instantly, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
The grandfather of one of the 14-year-old victims expressed his anger and grief outside the courthouse after the driver responsible for the fatal crash pleaded guilty.
“He killed two boys,” the grandfather said. “It wasn’t an accident. He just killed them.”
“This selfish, reckless driver took the lives of two promising young boys,” Nassau District Attorney Ann Donnelly said.
According to court documents, on May 3, 2023, Singh was driving a 2021 Dodge Ram TRX crossed over the road, and continued south in the northbound lanes while intoxicated and high on cocaine.
Singh then crashed his vehicle into an oncoming Alfa Romeo that had 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, according to prosecutors.
Due to the force of the crash, Hassenbein and Falkowitz, who were seated in the right side of the Alfa Romeo, were killed instantly.
Singh fled the crash scene and was arrested shortly after, found hiding near a dumpster in a shopping center parking lot close to the collision site.
The two other teenagers 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.
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 teens, members of the Roslyn High School tennis team and students at Roslyn Middle School, had been celebrating a tennis match victory at a local restaurant before the crash.
"Throughout this prosecution my position was clear," Donnelly said. "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. 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."
Singh pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, driving while ability impaired by combined influence of alcohol and a drug, and driving while intoxicated.
He is due back in court on Feb. 7, 2025, and is expected to be sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.