Steven Schwally, driver in Deer Park nail salon crash that killed 4, sentenced to maximum of 25 years to life in prison

A drunken driver “forever altered” the lives of more than a dozen families when he crashed through a Deer Park nail salon, killing four people and injuring nine more, survivors of the 2024 crash said at his sentencing for depraved-indifference murder Wednesday.

Steven Schwally, 66, of Dix Hills, will serve the maximum 25 years to life in state prison, State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro ruled before a packed courtroom in Riverhead., where his victims and their family members shared their stories of devastation.

“I cannot get back a part of my childhood that was taken from me,” now 14-year-old survivor Annabelle Saccente said. “I cannot erase the fear, the pain or the memories of the day.”

Annabelle said she was with her mother and a grandmother when Schwally crashed through the storefront at 78 mph. What began as a girls’ day out at the salon ended as “one of the most terrifying moments of my life," mother Toni Saccente recalled.

"I didn’t know where my daughter was," she said, noting Annabelle was knocked unconscious. "I didn’t know if she was alive."

Annabelle, who called Schwally “reckless and selfish,” recalled waking in her mother’s arms, "confused and terrified." She spoke of the multiple surgeries, intense physical therapy and post-traumatic stress disorder she has endured since the crash.

"Never in my life did I think something like this would happen to my family," the teen said.

Four occupants of the salon — owner Jian Chai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens; employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing, Queens; and off-duty NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park — did not survive the devastation.

Chen’s widow, Wen Jun Cheng, who suffered a fractured pelvis, liver trauma and the loss of her spleen as a result of the crash, said Chen was “the foundation” of their family, a loving husband and father to their children.

“What we lost was not simply a family member, but someone who could never be replaced,” she said, recalling the challenge of telling their children Chen would “never come home again.”

“Since that day, I've carried every responsibility alone: raising our children, caring for my family, recovering from my own injuries and rebuilding a life that will never be the same.”

Rennhack's widower, Carl, said Schwally’s actions deprived him and his wife of their dream of having children and “retiring somewhere warm with enough room to have horses and a porch to sit on.”

“On June 28, 2024, those plans all ended because of you,” Rennhack told Schwally. “Our family and so many other families in our Deer Park community were turned upside down because of you.”

A smirking Schwally, dressed in a dark green Suffolk County Correctional Facility sweatsuit, peered out at the audience as court officers walked him to the defense table. 

Attorney Christopher Cassar, of Huntington, read a lengthy statement from his client to the court, which began with him accepting responsibility for his actions but continued with him discussing his own suffering and pleading with the judge for leniency. He said he is “not a monster.”

"I just want to wholeheartedly say how terribly sorry I am for my actions that day," Schwally said when given the chance to address the court.

Schwally asked Ambro to give him a “minimum” sentence. He instead received the maximum.

"You’ve displayed nothing short of a complete and utter disregard for human life," Ambro told him. “It’s abundantly clear that you were and still are, in fact, depravedly indifferent to whether people lived or died or were severely injured by your actions that day.”

Patrick Hendry, president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, who appeared at times during the trial in support of the Rennhack family, thanked Ambro for the lengthy prison sentence.

"[He] sent a clear message that this menace to society will no longer be on the streets to hurt anyone else," Hendry said of the judge.

Testimony and evidence at trial established Schwally’s blood alcohol content was 0.17%, more than double the legal limit. He had purchased two 375-milliliter bottles of a Long Island Iced Tea cocktail at a liquor store next to the salon hours before the crash, Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bopp and Vehicular Crimes Bureau Chief Carl Borelli said.

The prosecutors during closing arguments repeatedly displayed video of the aftermath of the crash that showed Schwally’s vehicle resting in the back of the salon with several victims trapped underneath. Thick dust choked the air as stunned customers and employees wailed in pain and fear. Broken glass and salon chairs carpeted the ground.

Witnesses described the crash as "an explosion" and "as if a bomb had gone off."

"Schwally transformed his several-thousand-pound SUV into an instrument of mass destruction," Bopp told the judge Wednesday, describing the vehicle as a "missile."

"The magnitude of harm is beyond comprehensible," the prosecutor said.

The defense argued at trial that Schwally lost control of his 2020 Chevrolet Traverse and drove across a crowded parking lot and into the salon because he suffers from a leg disability and could not move his foot from the gas pedal. Cassar said in his closing argument Schwally did not appear to stumble or slur his words in surveillance video recorded hours before the crash. He also said blood drawn from Schwally that purportedly showed his blood alcohol level well above the legal limit had been contaminated, perhaps by police.

In addition to the four murder counts, a Suffolk jury in June also found Schwally guilty of manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, reckless endangerment and several misdemeanors. He was not present for the final days of the trial, including for the verdict, after suffering a heart attack requiring hospitalization May 21.

Bopp noted Schwally had two prior DWIs dating as far back as 1978. He spoke of the lack of accountability from the defendant the past two years.

"Finally, we have some acknowledgment," Bopp said of Schwally. "But it’s too little, too late."

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.