Anthony Rose and his childhood friend NyaQuae Henderson were 10 feet apart in Westchester County Court on Wednesday, his oxygen tank and her wheelchair serving as reminders of the horrific pre-dawn crash he caused nearly three years ago.
There were no such visible signs of their friend Noelina Pantaleon and her boyfriend Jonathan Hurst, the two passengers who died in the crash that morning, only the words of their grieving relatives.
"He broke up a family of four," Pantaleon's brother Silvio said of Rose. "He broke up a very happy family."
Rose, 21, of Mount Vernon, was sentenced to the 2 1/2- to 7 1/2-year prison term he was promised when he pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault in April.
The crash on Dec. 18, 2021, followed Rose driving more than 100 mph and swerving in and out of lanes on the eastbound Cross County Parkway in Mount Vernon. He only had a learner's permit.
He struck a car and a guardrail and then slammed into a tree, killing his friend and neighbor Pantaleon instantly. Hurst, Pantaleon's boyfriend, was sitting in the front seat and suffered a traumatic brain injury, dying 11 weeks later on March 7, 2022.
Henderson was sitting next to Pantaleon in the back seat. She suffered injuries that left her in a coma for seven months and hospitalized for eight months more. Her mother Nicole detailed in excruciating detail the medical complications Nya, now 22, has faced, her continuing incapacitation and the daily struggle to care for her.
Families devastated by crash's toll
Silvio Pantaleon said he and his parents remain devastated by his 20-year-old sister's death and that he had to move out of their home because staying there "became unbearable." He recalled being the first in his family to be contacted that she had died and closing the casket at her funeral because the damage to her head was so severe.
Hurst had turned 19 days before the crash. He had hoped to become a firefighter, to help people. His aunt, Paola Abundiz, tearfully read a letter from his mother, who wrote that the joy that once filled their home was "now a distant memory."
"They were so young with so much ahead of them," she wrote of Jonathan and Noelina. "My heart is broken beyond repair."
Nya was working as a security guard and hoped to join the Air Force or become a correction officer. But it all ended because of the decisions Rose made that morning, her mother said, to drive even though he was unlicensed and knew the lights on the car weren't working.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Strongin added later that another serious accident Rose was involved in a year earlier on the Hutchinson River Parkway "should have been a wake-up call but obviously it wasn't."
Nicole Henderson said Rose and Nya hung out so much as they grew up that she considered him like a nephew.
"We were family, so I thought," she said. "You were there for a lot of memorable moments...Family doesn't hurt family. Family members love and protect one another."
Rose finally offers apology
Henderson assailed Rose and his mother for never apologizing to her since the accident.
"You know saying sorry doesn't mean you did this on purpose," she told him. "I don't hate you. I'm disappointed in you and the decision you made because you hurt Nya."
On Wednesday she got that apology from the defendant. He said he was "sincerely remorseful" and "deeply sorry" that his actions had caused the tragedy and the grief the families are suffering, though he made a point of calling it a two-car accident.
"I wish I had saved them but I couldn't because I almost lost my life as well," he said.
Defense lawyer Richard Ferrante said his client has always been remorseful about the crash, though he doesn't remember most of it, and that it was on his advice that Rose didn't apologize while the case was pending.
In imposing the agreed-upon sentence, state Supreme Court Justice Larry Schwartz said the tragic case had devastated three families.
"Although you did not intend to kill or hurt anyone you still must be held to account for your recklessness," he told Rose, who left the courtroom in handcuffs moments later as his relatives behind him sobbed.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon man sentenced in crash that killed two passengers, seriously injured another
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