Parents' lawsuit questions time to hospital

The parents of a Locust Valley teenager who died after a head-on car crash in January have given legal notice that they intend to sue the county for failing to get her to the hospital fast enough.

Michael and Linda Grasso spoke to reporters at their daughter Isabella's Locust Valley grave site Tuesday, saying they want answers as to why it took more than 45 minutes for police to airlift their daughter, who died of heart trauma, to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

"Glen Cove Hospital was 30 seconds away," Michael Grasso said. "How long do you wait for a helicopter?"

Representatives for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, Nassau police and the district attorney declined to comment, saying they do not discuss pending litigation.

Isabella, 17, a senior at Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, died Jan. 10 after a two-car crash on her way to school, police said at the time.

She was traveling southwest on Old Tappan Road in Lattingtown in a convertible 2003 Mercedes-Benz, police said, when her car crossed over the double yellow line and collided with a 1998 Ford Explorer driven by another Locust Valley 17-year-old, police said. No criminal charges were brought.

Emergency Medical Services arrived at the scene at 7:31 a.m., according to a notice of claim filed by the Grasso family last March in State Supreme Court in Mineola. Grasso did not arrive at Nassau University Medical Center until 8:17 a.m., according to court papers. She was pronounced dead about an hour later, police said.

"Had she been brought to the hospital sooner, her life would have been saved," said the Grassos' lawyer, Thomas Liotti of Garden City.

Holding photos of their daughter, an aspiring actress who worked in a pizza shop and dreamed of going to college, Michael and Linda Grasso said their loss has been unimaginable.

"She was a bright young woman. She had a life ahead of her," her mother said.