By John C. O'Connell
But there was also sudden terror and death that day in Valley Stream. And there was a gift of life as well, given just as suddenly by a man many are calling a hero.
Phillip Fiorentino rescued the driver of a burning BMW on Merrick Road late Sunday afternoon, June 15, according to his family and witnesses at the scene.
Two other occupants of the vehicle, identified by police late last week as Willie T. Stanton, 29, of Rosedale, and his brother, James Stanton, 40, of Jamaica, were killed. The driver has been identified by police as Winston Cover, 30, of Flushing, Queens.
Fiorentino, who lives in Massapequa, was in Valley Stream attending a barbecue at his brother's Foster Avenue home when he heard a loud bang. Fiorentino, family members and neighbors immediately ran to the scene on Merrick Road just west of Cornwell Avenue to find a car almost fully engulfed in flames, with passengers still inside.
A van traveling eastbound and turning onto Cornwell had collided with the westbound BMW, which slid into a pole and parking meter on the north side of Merrick Road. It caught fire almost immediately.
"I was standing right there, and I saw Phil try to open the passenger door and then rip open the driver's-side door and pull the driver out," said Christine Houlihan, a retired New York City police officer and emergency medical technician.
"You have no idea how much of a hero Phil was," Houlihan said late last week. "That man would have been so dead now if Phil hadn't gone into that burning car like he did."
Houlihan, who lives in Valley Stream, said that when she arrived, she saw Fiorentino rescue the driver and then go back into the car to try to get the front-seat passenger out.
"It was horrible. As a cop and as an EMT, I've seen a lot, believe me, but I never saw anything as horrible as this," Houlihan said. "It was just an incredible thing."
After Fiorentino got the driver out, Houlihan said, she and Fiorentino's sister-in-law, Joanne Pellegrino, pulled Cover away from the flaming car.
"There were so many people there, just standing there, and nobody was doing anything. Just Phil. You have no idea what a hero he is. And Joanne, she did a big part of this, too," Houlihan said.
"I was the first one there," Fiorentino told the Herald last week. "I opened the door and grabbed him and brought him about 10 feet away. ... I tried to get back in for the other guy but the fire was so bad I couldn't."
Jos Quinones, who was quoted in last week's Herald as saying that he was the one who pulled the driver from the burning car, took off his shirt for the women to hold underneath Cover's head, according to Houlihan and James Pellegrino, Fiorentino's half brother.
Joanne Pellegrino said neighbors and others who witnessed her brother-in-law's actions and read last week's Herald were outraged that someone else would take credit for something Fiorentino actually did.
"We were there, and we know what happened and how brave Phil was," Joanne Pellegrino said. "He had burns on his hands from saving that man and from trying to go back in. I held that driver's head in my hands and believe me, I know what happened."
Fiorentino's half brother was also angry that someone else would claim credit and that the Herald would give credence to those claims. "Phil Fiorentino put his life in jeopardy saving the life of that man, and my wife and my neighbor, Christine [Houlihan], assisted in carrying him to the side of the road after Phil pulled him out of the car," James Pellegrino told the Herald. "The guy [Quinones] who took off his shirt gave it to [my wife and Houlihan] for [the driver's] head. ... No one else would even approach the vehicle because the heat and smoke were so intense."
James Pellegrino said Fiorentino "is truly the only one responsible for the driver getting out of the car."
The driver of the van that hit the BMW, Howard Antosofsky, was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal auto accident and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, police said.
