On the five-year anniversary of the fatal Long Island crash of a limo full of young women, the victims’ families are still looking for answers — and pointing their fingers at a local politician they blame in a “coverup” of evidence.
The admittedly tipsy truck driver whose pickup rammed the U-turning limo on July 18, 2015 — killing four of the women inside — had help at the crash scene from a well-connected pal, according to claims by the victims and their lawyers, and contained in court papers.
The truck driver, Steve Romeo — who two years after the crash would plead guilty to the traffic infraction of driving while impaired — was met at the Southold crash scene by John Helf Sr., the vice chair of the local Republican committee, the lawyers and court papers say.
Upon arriving, Helf was able to enter the active crime scene, where he tried to push local cops around on Romeo’s behalf, one of the lawyers says — an accusation contained in the same court papers, a legal affidavit by Romeo’s arresting officer, Garrett Lake.
Romeo, meanwhile, had run from the crash scene, officials said. Lake had to drag him back. He was never charged with leaving the scene.
Romeo was then given a field sobriety test, which he failed, Lake’s affidavit says. But inexplicably, Romeo’s official blood-alcohol test was not administered until an hour and 40 minutes after the crash, prosecutors have said.
During the delay, Romeo allegedly drank multiple bottles of water. The delay likely lowered Romeo’s blood-alcohol content below the legal threshold of .08 for “intoxicated” to the “impaired” level of .066, prosecutors said at the time.
Victims Amy Grabina, Lauren Baruch, Stephanie Belli and Brittney Schulman were all in their early 20s when their limo was T-boned by Romeo’s pickup truck. Four other young female limo passengers suffered serious injuries.
Now, family members and lawyers say they need answers: Why was Romeo given breaks — he was ultimately sentenced to a wrist-slap 90-day license suspension on impaired driving — and did Helf have anything to do with it?
“Apparently, Mr. Romeo was well-known to and friendly with Mr. Helf, and Mr. Helf attempted to become involved in Lake’s investigation, but Lake did not permit such involvement,” the cop has said in court papers, describing the crash scene in his ongoing suit against the town of Southold.
Lake is suing the town for allegedly wrongfully firing him May 19, 2016, less than a year after the 2015 crash — in part, he claims, due to pressure from Helf.
“Helf was upset” that his pal Romeo was arrested, Christopher Talbot, a former town board Republican, said in a 2017 affidavit supporting Lake.
At a Republican caucus held shortly after the crash, Helf “stated angrily regarding Lake: ‘he’s gone,’ and that Lake is a ‘f—-ing asshole,” the affidavit said.
The stated reason for Lake’s firing was “underperformance,” despite his being named Police Officer of the Year in 2014, notes crash victim family lawyer Frank Laine.
At a press conference Thursday, Laine said Romeo “ran from the scene, jumped the fence, ran down a ravine and was brought back by force by the police while the politician was still there — and he was never charged with leaving the scene of the accident.”
“Why is that?” asked Laine, who reps the estate of victim Amy Grabina, told reporters, as parents of the victims stood at his side, along with their lawyers.
“While [Helf] remained at the crime scene the entire time, Steve Romeo was able to consume five bottles of water to lower his blood alcohol level to under the unlawful limit,” Laine alleged, later citing to The Post a deposition he’d taken from Romeo.
Allowing him to drink water was a “violation” of police procedure, he said Saturday.
“How can that be?” Laine asked at the press conference.
“We will get answers to every one of those questions for the families in addition to proving that the County of Suffolk and the Town of Southold is responsible for this accident by not putting in a fully protected left turn arrow nor a no u-turn sign, which I believed they testified would cost 50 dollars to do,” Laine added.
The eight young women, all close friends, had been returning from a day of celebrating at North Fork area wineries when Romeo crashed into their black stretch Lincoln, nearly severing the vehicle in two.
The limo driver, Carlos Pina, was making a U-turn on Route 48 when the vehicle was broadsided by Romeo’s pickup.
Prosecutors eventually found that drunk or not, Romeo couldn’t have avoided striking the limo, though family members question that assessment, Laine said.
“I was very, very disturbed and very discouraged about a lot of the things that are coming out right now,” Susan Arundel, whose daughter Alicia survived the crash, said at Thursday’s press conference.
“I know that there is truth out there and I know that there [are] people who want that truth to come out, so I’m hoping that they let the truth come out, we want to hear from them.
“And personally I’m very disheartened and I kind of lost faith,” she added.
“It makes me wonder what good is out there? Where are the just people of this world? And it makes me think that the good ones were the ones that were in the limo that day. They were the ones that rented a car service, hired a car service. They were being responsible and conscientious citizens.
“So how much has happened these last few years since these young girls have been ripped from our lives? There have been many things that have let us down, and so much has happened to stop certain facts from becoming public,” the tearful mom said.
“So I want to see the good, I want to know that there’s good out there, but the only thing that makes me see the good is seeing their faces and the families and making me think about the girls who’ve been injured and all that they’ve gone through and how their lives have been changed.
Romeo and Helf did not respond to requests for comment.
