Southern State fatal crash case postponed
Oniel Sharpe Jr., left, is led into the Third Precinct in Bay Shore on Sunday, July 12, 2015, after a fatal car crash on the Southern State Parkway. Sharpe, of Queens, who is charged with driving while intoxicated, pleaded not guilty on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, to an additional charge of aggravated vehicular homicide stemming from the fiery crash that killed Ancio Ostane, right, of Queens, and his children, Andy and Sephora. Their mother and Ostane's wife, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, survived. Credit: James Carbone / Ostane family
The case of two Queens men facing criminal charges for their alleged roles in a crash on the Southern State Parkway that killed a father and his two children has been postponed.
Oniel Sharpe Jr., 24, and Demetri Stewart, 23, had been scheduled to appear Friday in First District Court in Central Islip.
Sharpe, of Springfield Gardens, the driver who is charged with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, is free on $500,000 bond.
Stewart, of Cambria Heights, is being held on a bail of $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond. Stewart is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, hindering prosecution and criminal facilitation.
They are due back in court later this month.
The probe of the crash by the Suffolk County district attorney's vehicular crimes bureau and State Police investigators is ongoing.
Prosecutors said Stewart was following Sharpe back from a Brentwood party when the crash happened at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, July 12, on the Southern State Parkway in Bay Shore.
Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane speaks to the media in her home in St. Albans, Queens, on July 12, 2015, about the Southern State Parkway crash that killed her husband, son and daughter. Credit: Anthony Lanzilote
Sharpe rear-ended a Toyota driven by Ancio Ostane, 37, of St. Albans, Queens. His children, Andy, 8, and Sephora, 4, and wife, Lucnie Bouaz-Ostane, 35, were passengers, authorities said. Only the wife survived, as the Ostane car burst into flames.
Stewart is accused of driving Sharpe -- who had two passengers with him -- away from the crash, leaving a father and two children to die, prosecutors said.
Sharpe's blood-alcohol level was 0.06 percent, court records said. A level of more than 0.05 percent is legal evidence of impairment, while a level of 0.08 percent or higher is evidence of intoxication.
Prosecutors said Stewart, Sharpe and friends were drinking at the party, leaving in several cars and going at a "high rate of speed."
Oniel Sharpe Jr. is led into the Third Precinct in Bay Shore on July 12, 2015, for arraignment at Suffolk County District Court in Central Islip the next morning. He is charged with DWI and leaving the scene of an accident in the crash that killed three people on the westbound Southern State Parkway near Exit 41S in Bay Shore on July 12. Credit: James Carbone
Ostane -- a Medgar Evers College math professor -- and his family were driving west around Exit 41S, Bay Shore Road, when the crash took place.
Stewart pulled over and checked on his friends, who were uninjured, prosecutors said.
He then dropped off Sharpe at Sharpe's mother's house in Rockville Centre hours later, after learning police were searching for them, prosecutors said.
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