Howard and Sherry were driving home from East Meadow that rainy evening when they stopped at the Taco Bell on Merrick Road in Merrick. When they had left East Meadow, they disagreed over which route to take home. Howard went into Taco Bell to get some food, and when he returned, Sherry wasn’t in the car. He drove east on Merrick Road to Bellmore, but didn’t find her. He turned around and drove west, and spotted her walking east on the north side of Merrick Road.

Howard stopped and asked Sherry to get in the car, he recalled, but she kept walking. It wasn’t uncommon for Sherry to walk, Howard said, so he let her go and drove home to wait for her. A clerk and typist in the Bellmore Public Schools, Sherry often walked around their neighborhood and to work.

After waiting for some time, Howard went out to look for her again, and not far away he discovered a police scene on Merrick Road. His wife had been hit while crossing the road, about a mile and a half east of the Taco Bell. Howard didn’t learn until after Sherry died that a police officer had been at the wheel of the car that killed her. That was the start of endless questions for the Lang family.

According to initial reports, the officer never saw Sherry until after the impact, about 25 feet past the intersection of Merrick Road and Farmers Boulevard in Bellmore. “I know that she always was a person that crossed at a green light,” Howard said. “So for her to be out there and to get hit … after I heard what happened … it definitely raised questions in my mind.”

The police report indicates that Sherry was seen crossing the street on a security camera at the now-closed Viva Loca restaurant. “An individual wearing a light-covered jacket can be seen walking eastbound on Merrick Road; vehicular traffic is also seen moving east and westbound at this time,” the report reads. “The individual then appears to cross Merrick Road from northwest to southeast and then out of camera range.”