By John C. O'Connell
Police are seeking the driver of a third car that also was involved in the collision and left the scene, authorities said.
According to police, the Lawrence man, identified as Jay M. Safianow, was killed when the 2002 Acura in which he was a passenger struck a tree on Peninsula Boulevard a few yards south of the corner of Stuart Road at 12:22 a.m. on Dec. 16.
Safianow was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The driver of the Acura, Timothy Divver, 24, of Inwood, was injured and taken to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, where he was listed in critical but stable condition Monday afternoon.
Published reports indicate that one of the responders to the scene, a Nassau County paramedic, was Paul Divver, the injured man's older brother and Safianow's friend. He reportedly learned that his brother was involved in an accident when he heard Timothy's name and address broadcast over the police radio.
A second car, driven by Ricardo Johnson, 24, of Brentwood, smashed into the same tree only seconds after the first crash, injuring Johnson, who was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where he was treated for minor injuries.
The two cars were heavily damaged, police said. The victims had to be extricated from the vehicles by Nassau County police officers and Valley Stream Fire Department firefighters.
A third car was also involved, but fled the scene, according to Det. Gary Ferrucci of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. He described the third car as an older-model, dark blue or black Camaro or Firebird-type vehicle. Police have evidence that the third car struck the right rear of the Acura driven by Divver, and then drove away.
High speed may have been the cause of the accident, according to Ferrucci. How fast the cars were traveling will be determined by an analysis of data downloaded from the computer connected to the cars' restraint systems, according to Det. Sgt. Dennis Barry of the homicide squad. That process may take a week to two weeks. This is not a case that will be solved overnight, Barry said.
Initial investigation did not reveal the presence of alcohol or drugs, Ferrucci said. No charges had been filed as of press time Tuesday morning. We have some leads on the third car that we are now in the process of investigating, Barry said Tuesday.
Safianow and Divver were friends but apparently did not know Johnson, Ferrucci said.
A friend of Safianow and Divver, who did not want to be identified, was shocked to hear news of the accident. You couldn't say one bad word about either of them, he said. These are very good people. Safianow and Divver graduated from Lawrence High School one year apart, in 1995 and 1996, respectively.
Lisa Rodriguez, who lives a block from the accident scene, heard the sound of the crash. We heard a big, big noise, she said later Monday morning at the scene. It was like a plane crash or something really big. We ran outside to see what happened and when we got here there were pieces of cars all over the place, all over the road.
She saw one car up on the sidewalk between a tree and a short row of hedges. This is the biggest accident I ever saw, Rodriguez said. There were at least 20 police cars everywhere and ambulances and fire trucks.
Traffic was stopped on the southbound side of Peninsula Boulevard until just after 10 a.m. Monday morning at Gordon Road to facilitate cleanup and investigation.
