Deer Park nail salon crash defendant Steven Schwally seemed surprised 4 people died in crash, cop says

The alleged drunken driver who prosecutors say barreled into a Deer Park nail salon in 2024 did not remember the crash and expressed surprise when he learned that four people had died in the horrific crash, a Suffolk County police detective testified on Thursday.

Steven Schwally, 66, of Dix Hills, said he didn’t remember how he and his 2020 Chevrolet Traverse wound up in Hawaii Nail & Spa, destroying the shop, Det. Brian Whitehead told the jury in Riverhead. In a 40-minute interview conducted shortly after the crash, Schwally said he remembered that the vehicle’s air bags had deployed, but he didn’t recall hearing screams from the dying and injured.

“I told him there were four people killed in the crash,” Whitehead said under questioning from Vehicular Crimes Bureau Chief Carl Borelli. “He looked shocked and then said, ‘I’m [expletive].”

Suffolk County prosecutors have said Schwally was intoxicated when he crashed his 2020 Chevrolet Traverse into the Grand Boulevard shop, driving at 78 mph on June 28, 2024, and killing the co-owner of the nail salon and three customers, including an off-duty NYPD officer. Nine people were injured.

Schwally, charged with four counts of second-degree murder and other crimes, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has twice rejected Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro’s plea offer of 22 years to life in prison and faces up to 27 1⁄2 years to life if convicted by the jury.

Suffolk prosecutors said Schwally had a blood alcohol content of 0.17% — more than twice the legal limit in New York State of 0.08% — and was speeding when his Traverse crossed the street from a neighboring parking lot and crashed into the nail salon.

In his opening argument, defense attorney Christopher Cassar said that Schwally’s blood sample had been tainted by an alcohol swab used to sterilize his skin before the blood was drawn. Cassar also said that he could not remove his foot from the gas pedal before the crash due to a leg disability.

Schwally has not appeared in court this week. Cassar said he is resting after suffering a heart attack.

Schwally said that he had been drinking until 3 or 4 a.m. on the day of the crash but did not consume alcohol after waking up later that morning, Whitehead testified. Schwally did not mention any leg issues when he talked to Whitehead after the crash.

Earlier in the day, the widow of the shop’s co-owner told the jury about the moment she learned her husband had been killed in the crash.

Wen Jun "Joey" Cheng said she struggled to breathe as she tried to see through the dust and chaos that choked the air when she asked a co-worker if she had seen her husband, the co-owner of the shop everybody called Kenny.

The co-worker, Cheng testified, just cried and shook her head — and that is how she learned that her husband, Jian Cha-Chen, 37, the father of her two children, was dead.

In addition to Chen, salon employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing, Queens, were killed in the crash, along with off-duty NYPD officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park.

Cheng told the jury through a Mandarin translator that she suffered horrific injuries after Schwally crashed into the nail salon, which continue to plague her. She testified that she was taken by ambulance to South Shore University Hospital with a broken rib and injuries to her head, legs, hip and torso. Her liver and spleen were hemorrhaging blood, the staff at the hospital told her.

Doctors removed her spleen because they could not stop her internal bleeding, Cheng said, and she struggled to breathe for weeks after what she referred to as “the incident.”

Cheng was hospitalized for two weeks and could not stand or walk unassisted even after she returned home. She required months of physical therapy and still cannot lift heavy objects, she said.

The trial continues with more witness testimony on Friday.