Murder charge added in LIE wrong-way crash

A man police say drove drunk and sped the wrong way for nearly 12 miles on the Long Island Expressway before crashing now also faces a murder charge in his passenger's death, Nassau prosecutors said.

A Nassau grand jury Thursday indicted Juan Cruz, 28, of Deer Park, on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree reckless endangerment. Those were added to original charges of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree vehicular manslaughter and misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and reckless driving.

If convicted, Cruz could get 25 years to life in prison. He remains in jail on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash bail, and is due back in court March 10. Cruz's attorney, Greg Grizopoulos, did not return a call for comment.

"This horrific crash shows just how serious wrong-way, drunk-driving incidents can be, and how important it is to address this issue before another tragedy occurs," Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. "This defendant's reckless decision to drink and drive killed his friend and endangered every other driver on the road. I will continue to push for the toughest charges and stiffest penalties against drunk drivers who kill."

Authorities said that in the early morning hours of Sept. 6, Cruz was driving his 2008 Chrysler Town and Country minivan west in the expressway's eastbound HOV lane. A friend, Mauricio Visoso-Ornelas, 28, was in the front passenger seat.

Officials said Cruz, who got on the LIE in Brentwood, drove almost 12 miles in the wrong direction, speeding up to 112 mph before crashing into the center median just west of the Sunnyside Boulevard overpass in Plainview shortly before 5 a.m. He said afterward he had attended a baby shower before getting on the expressway.

Relatives of Visoso-Ornelas could not be reached Thursday.Cruz is the sixth defendant in Nassau to be charged with murder for a drunken-driving fatality since prosecutors took the unusual step in the 2005 case of Martin Heidgen, then 24, of Valley Stream.

In 2006, a jury found Heidgen guilty of second-degree murder for the wrong-way drunken-driving deaths of 7-year-old flower girl Katie Flynn of Lido Beach and limousine driver Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale, who was driving the Flynn family home after a wedding. Heidgen has appealed his conviction.

Since then, two DWI defendants in Nassau have been convicted of second-degree murder, and two others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.