Queens man pleads not guilty in crash that killed father of four
Jordan Solomon was arraigned at the Nassau County Courthouse on Thursday, June 2, 2022 in Mineola. Credit: Howard Schnapp
A Queens man pleaded not guilty Thursday to aggravated vehicular homicide and drunken driving charges after a Jericho crash that killed a father of four who was riding his motorcycle home from his steakhouse chef job.
“He killed my son and left four little angels that God gave him,” the father of crash victim Stanley Christopher Soobrian Jr. told Newsday after Jordan Solomon’s arraignment.
The 29-year-old victim’s children — Fallon, 8, Peyton, 6, Olani, 4, and Jasper, 1 — played in the grass outside Nassau County Court as their grandfather spoke.
The children wore T-shirts with their father’s photo on the front and the slogan “Love Never Dies” on the back.
Adriana Rodriguez sits with her children Peyton, 6, Fallon, 8, Jasper, 1, and Olani, 4 — whom she had with longtime partner Stanley Christopher Soobrian Jr. — outside Nassau County Courthouse Thursday in Mineola. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Law enforcement officials have alleged Solomon was drunk and driving at 100 mph on Jericho Turnpike at about 11:45 p.m. on March 15 when the 30-year-old Forest Hills man crashed his Kia K5 sedan into the back of Soobrian’s motorcycle — killing him.
A Newsday photo from the arrest scene shows the motorcycle lodged in the Kia’s hood.
Nassau police have said both vehicles were headed west during the crash and that Solomon drove away from the scene.
Police said they found him a short time later by a Long Island Expressway entrance, after his Kia became disabled, and took him into custody. Medics pronounced Soobrian dead at 11:52 p.m.
Solomon also faces other charges that include manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and assault.
“A father of four commuting after a day of work tragically never made it home to his family when the defendant, allegedly intoxicated and driving at a speed of 100 mph, crashed into the back of the victim’s motorcycle, killing him. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family as we prosecute this case,” Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement Thursday.
The defendant’s attorney, Melvyn Roth, told Newsday his client was “extremely remorseful for what occurred.” Roth added: “It’s an accident. They’re claiming that he was intoxicated. We’ll address that in the court.”
The Garden City lawyer said Solomon “stopped a very short time after, within less than a quarter of a mile” from the crash.
“He called 911 himself. He didn’t leave the scene of an accident,” Roth also said.
Solomon worked as Aquatics assistant director at The Mid-Island Y Jewish Community Center in Plainview before his arrest — his first — and now works in a Town of Oyster Bay golf course pro shop, according to the attorney.
Soobrian, who lived in Jamaica, Queens, graduated from high school in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn and immediately began working in the restaurant business after growing up by his father’s side cooking, relatives said Thursday.
Soobrian’s longtime partner, Adreana Rodriguez, said he had adored their children — two of whom he helped deliver in home births. She said the two of them had planned to open a restaurant together someday.
“That was our dream,” added Rodriguez, 29.
Instead, she said she would raise their children alone — repeating a pattern from when Soobrian was young and his mother died of cancer.
Of Solomon, Rodriguez remarked: “I'm hoping he goes to jail for a good while so he can think about it and his family can miss him and feel a little bit of what we feel, you know?"
