By JUDY RATTNER
, and injured three others in the car in which Holmes was riding, including the driver, fellow senior Samuel Demarco, 17. The boys were residents of South Hempstead who had been friends since elementary school.
The accident occurred at around 11:45 p.m., when Demarco's 1986 Jaguar struck a tree as he drove south on Clinton Road in Garden City. Holmes was ejected from the car's back seat. Police said he was pronounced dead within an hour of being transported to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where Demarco was also taken. Two unidentified girls in the car, residents of Garden City, were treated for minor injuries at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola and released.
On Saturday morning, Demarco was arrested and held for arraignment on charges of driving while ability-impaired by drugs. He pleaded not guilty in Nassau County's First District Court and posted $10,000 bail.
Demarco's attorney, William Sandback of Mineola, said that his client submitted to a blood test for both alcohol and drugs when he was checked at the hospital after the accident. The results had not been announced at press time. Sandback, a former prosecutor who is now a criminal attorney, said a field test Demarco took for alcohol at the accident scene was negative, and that he is still being monitored medically for any effects from the accident.
"This is a tremendous tragedy," said Sandback. "The young man that is deceased was a very good friend of my client's and it is just a devastating situation, but it was an accident. I believe the families have spoken to each other since Friday night, and the defendant's family is certainly emotionally shaken to the nth degree by what has happened. My client at the time of the accident had taken it upon himself to rescue his girlfriend by pulling her out of the car because he was smelling gas. He went back to pull out the other girl but at that point the police had arrived."
"I have known Michael for the four years he attended South Side High School," said Principal Dr. Carol Burris. "He was so full of life. This is just a terrible, terrible tragedy." Burris said she would not comment on Demarco.
She described a strong, coordinated response to the accident at the high school. Burris said that teachers had been notified through a phone chain over the weekend, and attended an early-morning informational meeting on Monday, before school started. Burris announced the accident to the entire school as the day began, and six guidance counselors, two school psychologists and three social workers cleared their schedules that day and were available for students who wanted to talk.
Burris roamed the hallways, talking to students, and planned to send a letter to parents on how to help teenagers grieve. Support personnel, she explained, were on hand in each of Holmes's classes to speak with students. Burris said she expected there would be a large presence of faculty and students at both his wake and funeral.
"He was a fun person, always coming up with something to do," said Madeline Moret, a South Side senior who said she was a close friend of Holmes's. "He impacted more people's lives than he thought he did."
"He always put a smile on everybody's face," said Kathleen Turnowski, a senior at Sacred Heart Academy who also said she was close with Holmes. "We will always remember him. He really touched our hearts."
The wake was held at Perry Funeral Home in Lynbrook on Monday, with the funeral Mass following on Tuesday morning at St. Agnes Cathedral.
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