1 Driver Out On Bail, Another Held In LI Crash That Killed Father, 2 Children
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- One man has been released on bail, and another remained in custody Thursday night, in a fiery car crash on Long Island that killed a father and his two young children.
Oneil Sharpe Jr., 24, was released Wednesday after posting $500,000 bond, according to Suffolk County authorities. Co-defendant Demetri Stewart, 23, remained in custody on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond.
Sharpe was charged with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, while Stewart was charged leaving the scene of a fatal accident, hindering prosecution, and criminal facilitation.
Prosecutors said Stewart was following Sharpe on the Southern State Parkway when Sharpe rear-ended his BMW into a Toyota near exit 41 in Bay Shore early Sunday morning.
The Toyota burst into flames, killing 37-year-old Ancio Ostane, his 8-year-old son, Andy, and 4-year-old daughter, Sephora, police said. Ostane's wife and the children's mother, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, escaped uninjured.
Stewart stopped his rental car and as the family was screaming for help, Stewart instead told his friend to get into his car and left the scene, driving around for four hours so that Sharpe could sober up, Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney John Scott Prudenti said.
"As a family less than 100 feet away was burning to death, they did absolutely nothing to help this family," Prudenti said earlier this week.
But Stewart's attorney called his client an innocent good Samaritan and said he helped his friend and tried to take him to the hospital, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
Prudenti disputes that claim.
"Nothing can be further than the truth," he said.
Sharpe and Stewart were to appear in First District Court in Central Islip on Friday.
