NYPD: Copiague mother, daughter killed by drunken driver in Queens

A mom and her 10-year-old daughter, both from Copiague, were killed Saturday night in Queens after a speeding, drunken driver collided with the family's car, according to the NYPD.

The NYPD identified the two as Diana Granobles, 31, and her daughter Isabella.

Injured in the crash were the alleged drunken driver’s passengers — a 12-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and a 38-year-old woman — and that driver himself, Tyrone Absolam of Jamaica, Queens, the NYPD said Sunday in a news release. All four were hospitalized.

Absolam was also taken into custody and charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and driving while intoxicated, according to the release, which did not say who had the right of way.

The crash was just before 8:45 p.m. at Rockaway and Guy R. Brewer boulevards near Kennedy Airport: Absolam sped while drunk westbound in a 2018 Nissan Altima on Rockaway Boulevard and collided with a 2020 Chevrolet Cruze being driven by Granobles, according to the release.

Granobles was driving in the opposite direction, making a left turn onto northbound Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.

Responding to a 911 call reporting the crash, police officers found Granobles and her daughter unconscious inside the Chevrolet, the release said. In the Nissan were the injured passengers — the youths in the back seat, the woman and Absolam in the front.

Medics declared Granobles and her daughter dead at the scene. The four in the Nissan were hospitalized — Absolam in serious condition and the woman in critical condition, both at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and the youths in serious but stable condition at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens.

Absolam was awaiting arraignment Sunday night at Queens Criminal Court, according to a news release from the borough district attorney’s office.

The release said police officers had observed signs of Absolam's intoxication such as bloodshot eyes, and he failed two field sobriety tests. When he was arrested, according to the release, he said in substance: "I drank from my girlfriend’s cup of vodka and iced tea at around 5:00 p.m. while we were at the beach," and that he was going 50 miles per hour; the posted limit on the boulevard is 35 mph.

Lorenzano Granobles — Diana’s husband and Isabella’s dad — worked two blocks away from the crash scene for a freight forwarding company, according to Betty Granobles, whose husband is Lorenzano’s cousin.

"She was just with her daughter picking up the dad from work when everything happened," Betty Granobles said Sunday afternoon.

"He’s in shock. He’s not really talking," she said. "He’s just trying to deal with the funeral and arranging everything."

The family has set up an online GoFundMe fundraiser to help defray the costs.

Of Isabella, Betty Granobles said: "She was a very happy child — healthful, respectful, lovable. She loved to play with dolls."

Diana, originally from Colombia, used to work for a travel agency but was a full-time mom, Betty Granobles said. "She was very dedicated to her kids — lovable, friendly, responsible."

The rest of the family was born in the United States, but the two younger children are now in Colombia, staying with maternal grandparents; the kids were to return in October.

Part of the family had just returned from Colombia after a few years there — Lorenzano wanted to save up money "to give them a better life," Betty said. They decided to live in Copiague because the family has a friend who is renting to them, said Betty, about to board a plane from Miami to be with Lorenzano.

Absolam could not be reached for comment; no attorney could be identified.

Isabella Granobles was the second child from Long Island to die in a traffic crash in less than three days.

On Thursday, 9-year-old Jack Giusto was killed in a head-on crash in Manorville after an SUV being driven by his brother was struck by a 25-year-old driving a pickup truck. No charges have been filed in connection with that collision, and the cause has not been disclosed.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.