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Mostly Cloudy Two killed in car crash Hewlett teen dies in accident on Peninsula Blvd.
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According to police, the driver, identified as Timothy Kubis, of 386 Chestnut St., was at the wheel of a 2001 Hyundai headed south on Peninsula, where the roadway is undergoing a county resurfacing project, when he apparently lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree a few yards north of Stuart Road at 12:11 a.m. on Monday.
Kubis was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:18 a.m., police said. His sole passenger, Donna Fichtner, of 17 Linden St. in Coram, was brought to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, where she was pronounced dead at 1:54 a.m., according to police.
Kubis was a 2002 graduate of Hewlett High School. The accident was the latest tragedy to hit that graduating class. Three other 2002 graduates, Jonah Richman, Adam Cohen and Jordan Satin, drowned in an upstate river in August trying to save a fellow camp counselor.
Kubis was fondly remembered by Hewlett High School administrators. "I knew the boy, and I'm deeply saddened and deeply touched by this tragedy," said Lawrence Tannenbaum, the high school's assistant principal. "It's just another one.
"It's very painful for the staff and students in the building," he added. "I liked the young man a lot. He was a great kid."
Nassau County police were still investigating the cause of the accident this week. Detective Lt. Robert Cuerbo of the Fifth Squad said Tuesday that speed was a contributing factor. The posted speed in that area is 30 mph.
When complete, the medical examiner's report and a vehicle safety check will help investigators determine whether there were any other contributing factors. Asked if the county's resurfacing work may also have been a factor, Cuerbo said it would be "unfair to pin down one factor at this time."
The noise of the crash woke many in the neighborhood. "I was in my bed," said Tiffany Monge, who lives on the corner of Stuart and Peninsula, "and I heard this very loud boom. It woke me up and my boyfriend jumped, too. I got up and looked out the bathroom window and I saw this car wrapped around the tree with a person hanging out the back window on the trunk."
Monge said the police arrived "very quickly, in a few minutes."
When she heard the crash, she said she immediately thought of another bad car accident in almost the same spot about 10 months ago, last Dec. 16. In that incident, a 25-year-old Lawrence man, Jay M. Safianow, was killed when the 2002 Acura in which he was a passenger struck a tree on Peninsula just a few yards south of Stuart -- less than 20 yards south of Monday's accident.
The December crash also happened early on a Monday morning. Timothy Divver, 24, the driver of the car in which Safianow was killed, was critically injured. Ricardo Johnson, 24, was the driver of a second car involved in the accident, and was also injured.
The Valley Stream Fire Department responded to Monday's crash. First Assistant Chief Joseph Garofalo was on the scene with Heavy Rescue truck 347 and Valley Stream's ambulance 349. The VSFD provided assistance to the female passenger.
Contacted at home, the Kubis family declined comment.
Kubis was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:18 a.m., police said. His sole passenger, Donna Fichtner, of 17 Linden St. in Coram, was brought to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, where she was pronounced dead at 1:54 a.m., according to police.
Kubis was a 2002 graduate of Hewlett High School. The accident was the latest tragedy to hit that graduating class. Three other 2002 graduates, Jonah Richman, Adam Cohen and Jordan Satin, drowned in an upstate river in August trying to save a fellow camp counselor.
Kubis was fondly remembered by Hewlett High School administrators. "I knew the boy, and I'm deeply saddened and deeply touched by this tragedy," said Lawrence Tannenbaum, the high school's assistant principal. "It's just another one.
"It's very painful for the staff and students in the building," he added. "I liked the young man a lot. He was a great kid."
Nassau County police were still investigating the cause of the accident this week. Detective Lt. Robert Cuerbo of the Fifth Squad said Tuesday that speed was a contributing factor. The posted speed in that area is 30 mph.
When complete, the medical examiner's report and a vehicle safety check will help investigators determine whether there were any other contributing factors. Asked if the county's resurfacing work may also have been a factor, Cuerbo said it would be "unfair to pin down one factor at this time."
The noise of the crash woke many in the neighborhood. "I was in my bed," said Tiffany Monge, who lives on the corner of Stuart and Peninsula, "and I heard this very loud boom. It woke me up and my boyfriend jumped, too. I got up and looked out the bathroom window and I saw this car wrapped around the tree with a person hanging out the back window on the trunk."
Monge said the police arrived "very quickly, in a few minutes."
When she heard the crash, she said she immediately thought of another bad car accident in almost the same spot about 10 months ago, last Dec. 16. In that incident, a 25-year-old Lawrence man, Jay M. Safianow, was killed when the 2002 Acura in which he was a passenger struck a tree on Peninsula just a few yards south of Stuart -- less than 20 yards south of Monday's accident.
The December crash also happened early on a Monday morning. Timothy Divver, 24, the driver of the car in which Safianow was killed, was critically injured. Ricardo Johnson, 24, was the driver of a second car involved in the accident, and was also injured.
The Valley Stream Fire Department responded to Monday's crash. First Assistant Chief Joseph Garofalo was on the scene with Heavy Rescue truck 347 and Valley Stream's ambulance 349. The VSFD provided assistance to the female passenger.
Contacted at home, the Kubis family declined comment.
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