Steven Schwally, 66, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Wednesday for the deadly Deer Park nail salon crash.
The Dix Hills man learned his fate in Suffolk County court after a jury convicted him last month on four counts of second-degree murder and multiple other charges.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney addressed the court.
“Steven Schwally drank until his blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. He chose to get behind the wheel of an SUV, run four stop signs and speed through a red light, crashing his two-ton vehicle into a room full of people,” Tierney said.
“Four families are now living with the deadly consequences, including the family of an off-duty New York City police officer,” Tierney added.
“We have now achieved justice on behalf of these families and survivors who continue to deal with the fallout from the defendant’s decisions.”
Schwally had consumed 18 beers and Long Island iced teas before the June 28, 2024 crash at Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Avenue.
Off-duty NYPD officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, was among the dead.
She had been getting a manicure for a wedding.
Salon owner Jian Chai Chen, 37, and employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, also perished.
Nine others were injured, including a 12-year-old girl who required surgery.
In the viral moment that preceded Wednesday’s sentencing, Schwally’s Chevrolet Traverse slammed through the salon at 78 mph with his “accelerator pedal 99% full,” prosecutors said.
Fourteen people were inside when the SUV blasted through the storefront.
“It appeared as if a bomb went off,” Suffolk police Officer Michael Marzullo testified at a pretrial hearing.
“The whole front of the salon was… Missing and destroyed.”
Fellow Officer Michael Pascale told the court “it just looked like total devastation.”
“It was a completely catastrophic and chaotic scene,” testified Officer Dennis Sheahan.
Screams and cries filled body camera footage played in court.
An employee desperately pleaded with Marzullo to help victims trapped beneath the vehicle.
Schwally’s eyes lingered on an injured woman on the blood-splattered floor during the footage.
He had left his room at the Commack Motor Inn that morning and headed to a liquor store in the same strip mall as the salon.
He purchased two bottles of Montebello Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail around 11 a.m.
The self-admitted alcoholic had a prior DWI charge from 2013 after falling asleep and striking a mailbox.
When pulled from the wreckage, Schwally reeked of booze, slurred his words and had bloodshot eyes, prosecutors said.
A blood test at Good Samaritan University Hospital showed his BAC was.17.
At the hospital, Schwally gave conflicting accounts to staffers.
He told one he swerved to avoid a dog.
He told another he had simply missed a turn.
He told a nurse he was injured in a fall.
“Because you’re the driver,” Officer Marzullo shouted back when Schwally questioned why his license was being held.
Schwally had rejected a 22-years-to-life plea deal offered by the judge, opting instead for trial.
His attorney, Christopher Cassar, called the offer a “life sentence.”
“Twenty-two years? He’s gonna die in prison,” Cassar said outside court.
Cassar maintained Schwally was not intoxicated and claimed his right leg had locked on the gas pedal.
The defense also alleged the blood test was contaminated.
The jury disagreed.