Official: High blood-alcohol level in wrong-way LIE crash

The driver in a deadly wrong-way car crash on the Long Island Expressway had a blood-alcohol level that was more than twice the legal state limit, according to a prosecutor at the man's arraignment yesterday.

Juan Cruz, 27, of Deer Park, was arraigned on charges of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving. The Monday crash killed his friend, a passenger in the car, Mauricio Visoso-Ornelas, 28, of Corona. Cruz did not enter a plea and was ordered held on $150,000 bond or $75,000 cash bail by Nassau Judge Angelo A. Delligatti of First District Court in Hempstead. Cruz is due to return to court Thursday.

Prosecutor Marisa Aronson said Cruz had registered a .19 percent blood-alcohol level on a breath test taken at the scene, and the court was awaiting final blood test results.

Cruz's parents, who came to court, did not comment.

Cruz drove his 2008 Chrysler Town & Country van west on the eastbound LIE, police said, spurring several 911 calls. The blue van struck the median west of the Sunnyside Boulevard overpass in Plainview, police said.
According to court documents, a driver at the scene, Micheal Tinelli, told police that he saw sparks coming from the still-moving car after the collision, and he yelled at Cruz to cut the engine.

Cruz told Tinelli there were "three other people in the van," according to court documents, but his only passenger was Visoso-Ornelas.

Tinelli, a caterer at the Fox Hollow hotel and catering hall in Woodbury, said he was returning home to Ronkonkoma from work when he saw the accident.
Visoso-Ornelas was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Cruz's attorney, John F. Carman of Garden City, said after the arraignment that his client was remorseful. "As frequent as these types of cases are, they're always tragic. They destroy families, and I don't think we should have any reasonable expectation that this one will be any different," Carman said. "But we have a lot to learn, and we'll be doing that in the upcoming days." Carman told the judge that Cruz has two children.

With William Murphy

and Jennifer Maloney