Mastic man sentenced to 6 to 18 years in fatal LIE crash, DA's office says
Peter Visconti Jr., of Mastic, was sentenced Tuesday to 6 to 18 years in prison for killing a woman and injuring seven others in an LIE car crash in March. Credit: SCDA
A Mastic man was sentenced on Tuesday to 6 to 18 years in prison for killing a woman and injuring seven others in a car crash on the Long Island Expressway in March, the Suffolk district attorney's office announced.
Peter Visconti, Jr., 38, pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 to felony aggravated vehicular homicide, multiple counts of felony and misdemeanor assault, operating a vehicle while impaired by drugs and the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
He was sentenced by Suffolk County acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.
“In this day and age, there is no excuse for anyone to get behind the wheel of a car if they’ve been doing drugs or drinking,” Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said in a news release. “A woman lost her life and the victims who survived this horrific crash had their lives changed forever because of this defendant’s senseless decision.”
Visconti was driving erratically the afternoon of March 31 when he veered off the LIE near the William Floyd Parkway in Shirley and struck a minivan with his pickup truck, according to the news release.
His truck crossed over the median into oncoming traffic where he hit a motorcycle and another minivan with such force part of that vehicle became impaled onto his vehicle, the district attorney's office said. A passenger in the second minivan was pronounced dead at the Long Island Medical Center in East Patchogue and six other passengers were treated for injuries at hospitals. The injured passengers in the second minivan were all visitors from China. The motorcyclist was also seriously injured.
Visconti was treated at Brookhaven Hospital for minor injuries, where he tested positive for alprazolam, a tranquilizer sold under the brand name Xanax, and cocaine.
Visconti’s attorney, Vincent Trimarco of Smithtown, said Tuesday night that his client was “extremely remorseful.”
“He understands the gravity of the entire situation, how what’s happened affects people,” Trimarco said. “He’s very, very sorry.”
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