Leo Flores-Garcia of Huntington Station pleads guilty in drunken fatal crash

A Huntington Station man pleaded guilty Thursday to driving drunk, crashing head-on with another vehicle last year on the Fourth of July and killing his passenger, Suffolk County district attorney officials said.

Leo Flores-Garcia, 26, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, aggravated driving while intoxicated and reckless driving in the July 4, 2023, crash on Sweet Hollow Road in West Hills. The crash killed his passenger Marlon Nunez-Cuellar, 25, also of Huntington Station.

Flores-Garcia admitted leaving a party about 8 p.m. where he had been drinking before the crash, prosecutors said. He left the party with three other people as they sped away in a 2017 Honda Accord.

A data recorder in the Honda showed he was driving at 72 mph at the time of the crash on the narrow two-lane winding road with a speed limit of 30 mph, according to court records.

Nunez-Cuellar was taken to Plainview Hospital, where he died.

Prosecutors said Flores-Garcia was driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.14%, following an initial test. Additional testing taken by police was measured at 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit of .08%. Police also found beer containers in the trunk of his car.

Flores is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20 when he could face between four to 12 years in prison.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.