By:Jenn Abelson
Malverne resident Kevin Hart had a penchant for living life in the fast lane -- so much so that his silver Corvette's license plate read "LOV2XLR8," or love to accelerate. Last Sunday afternoon, his speedy ways ended in tragedy in Oceanside when a drag race he was involved in led to the death of his opponent and an innocent driver, police said.
Witnesses told authorities they saw a silver 2001 Lamborghini, operated by Michael Vasapolli, 30, of Flanders Drive, North Woodmere, and a gray 1990 Corvette, driven by Hart, 27, of Wolf Avenue, darting in and out of traffic lanes and cutting off other cars while southbound on Lawson Boulevard, near Weidner Avenue, at 3:39 p.m.
Witnesses estimated the cars' speeds at 75 to 80 miles an hour, said Det. Lt. Frank Guidice of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. As the drag racers approached Montgomery Ave., Vasapolli moved into the northbound lanes to pass a Cadillac and collided with a Volvo driven by Glenn Jacofsky, 43, of 5th Street, Oceanside.
The collision mangled Jacofsky's black car almost beyond recognition and twisted the Lamborghini into a mass of metal. Both Vasapolli and Jacofsky were killed instantly and pronounced dead at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside. Vasapolli's wife, Karen Mauro, and Jacofsky's wife, Amy, were treated at the same hospital for cuts and bruises and released Sunday.
The crash sent the silver Lamborghini spinning. To avoid the out-of-control car, Hart mounted the curb and smashed his Corvette into a fence and a parked school bus, Guidice said. Hart was also treated for minor injuries at South Nassau and released into police custody Sunday. Guidice said police charged Hart with two counts of manslaughter in the second degree. He was arraigned on Monday in First District Court in Hempstead. He pleaded not guilty, posted $20,000 bail, and was released.
Guidice said Vasapolli's wife "indicated to us and officers at the scene that she knew he was about to race and that she asked him not to do it. She told him several times, 'don't do it, don't do it.'" Guidice said. "He disregarded her advice."
Families of both Hart and Vasapolli declined to comment to The Herald.
Although the two men had valid New York driver's licenses at the time of the crash, their records were far from clean, Guidice said.
Hart was involved in four car accidents in the past decade and had three speeding convictions dating to 1991. Vasapolli had seven speeding convictions since 1989. His license was suspended in 1989 and revoked in 1990 after he received three tickets within an 18-month period. He also was ticketed twice for running a stop sign and several times for not wearing a seat belt. The Department of Motor Vehicles suspended his license again in 1993 for failure to answer summonses.
Guidice said everyone involved in the accident, except Hart, was wearing a seat belt.
Hart, a manager at a plumbing company in Brooklyn, lived with his parents in their Malverne home. According to neighbor Therese Berkowitz, "They are car people. They love their cars."
"He's a nice kid, always hanging around with his friends," she said.
Another neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, described Hart as responsible. "When I go jogging at 5:30 a.m., he's up to go to work. This drag racing seems so uncharacteristic." She censured the manslaughter charges as absurd: "He didn't jump the line. He didn't hurt anyone."
According to Guidice, "When you recklessly engage in conduct that causes the death of another, you can be charged with manslaughter in the second degree. His actions contributed to the deaths of these other people."
Jacofsky is survived by his wife and two children, Michelle, 13, and Steven, 9. Bernard Jacofsky praised his brother as "an absolute family man and astute, accomplished businessman."
Jacofsky was a partner in his family's telecommunications business, DJJ Associates in Islandia. His funeral was Tuesday at Boulevard Riverside Chapel in Hewlett.
Guidice called the Sunday afternoon racing incident highly unusual. "Our experience shows that most drag racing occurs at night, and usually it's younger people involved."
Although Guidice didn't have information available about the frequency of racing on Lawson Boulevard, neighbors and business owners said the street is known as a raceway for speeding sports cars.
"There is constant drag racing here from 10 to midnight. It has increased quite a bit during the past six years," said Edwin Madison, who has lived on the corner of Montgomery Avenue for 36 years.
Kashmir Singh, owner of Sun Auto Repair at the corner of Waukena Avenue and Lawson Boulevard, said, "I always find people going fast along this road. All the time."
Guidice said, "Drag racing is illegal, it's dangerous and it can certainly be a tragedy for all those involved."
Herald reporter Joseph Kellard contributed to this story
