By Doug Miller
Flynn, a student at Long Beach Catholic Regional School, was a passenger in a limousine traveling south on the Meadowbrook Parkway late that night following the wedding of her aunt, Lisa Moscolo. Her car was hit head-on by a northbound pickup truck driven by Martin Heidgen, 25, of Valley Stream, who was injured in the crash but survived. He told investigators he was trying to commit suicide.
Killed along with Katie was the driver of her limousine, Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale. Severely injured were Katie's parents, grandparents Chris and Denise Tangney, and her 5-year-old sister.
The family released a statement this week, asking for privacy while thanking the community for its support in this annus horribilis. "Our family would like to thank everyone for their vigilant prayers and support. Together, in the privacy of our homes,we will bear with the saddest time imaginable."
Heidgen, whose blood-alcohol level was recorded at the crash scene as .28, or more than three-times the legal limit, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, plus several other lesser counts, and has sat in the Nassau County Jail, ineligible for bail, since the crash. Because of congestion in the Nassau County court system, the trial has been pushed back to the fall, a family member said. Heidgen's attorney, Stephen LaManga, did not return several calls for comment.
"The courts are pretty much closed during the summer," said Flynn's great-uncle, Mike Tangney, a Long Beach police lieutenant. "They just take what has to be done, and from our perspective, as long as he stays in jail, that's all we care about."
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