DA: Driver in child fatal had drug stash

Bail was sharply increased Wednesday for a Ronkonkoma man after prosecutors told a judge he had two partly full bottles of the prescription painkiller oxycodone in his car when he struck another car Saturday and fatally injured a 5-year-old boy.

Prosecutors also said a search of the home of Steven Kinalis, 30, found several other prescription controlled substances, including Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug; Soma, a muscle relaxant, and Adderall, an amphetamine.

Kinalis admitted that he uses all four drugs, Suffolk County prosecutors Tisha Burrows and John Scott Prudenti told Judge Toni Bean in First District Court in Central Islip, but Burrows did not specify how many pills Kinalis had taken, when he had taken them or how many had been seized by police.

Kinalis was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs. Prosecutors are considering an upgraded charge, pending the results of a blood test.

After hearing from both sides, Bean raised bail for Kinalis to $300,000 cash or $650,000 bond. It had been set at $150,000 cash or $500,000 bond at his initial arraignment Sunday, before the child died.

Defense attorney Steven Gaitman asked that his client be released without bail, and suggested that he had not committed a crime.

The crash was "quite a tragedy . . . but we don't want to confuse tragedy with his behavior," Gaitman said.

Kevin Gaffney, 36, of West Islip, was driving with his family Saturday morning in their Dodge dual-cab pickup truck on Sunrise Highway in Shirley when it was hit from behind by a Toyota Scion driven by Kinalis, police said.

Gaffney's son, John, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center in critical condition, and died of his injuries Sunday, police said.

A man who identified himself as Chris Murphy said he was the spokesman for the Gaffney family and that a statement would be issued, but he gave no indication when.

He said several people in the courtroom Wednesday were friends and relatives of the family. None of them commented after the proceeding.

The crash occurred at 9:43 a.m. near William Floyd Parkway. It pushed the truck off the road and into a tree, police said.

Also in the truck were Gaffney's wife, Teri, a daughter, 7, and another son, 2. All were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at Stony Brook.

With William Murphy