Liquor store owner sold alcohol to visibly intoxicated driver in fatal Deer Park nail salon crash, lawsuit says

The owner of the Deer Park nail salon where four people were killed last year after an alleged drunken driver crashed his SUV into the business sued the motorist, along with a liquor store the complaint said sold him alcohol even though he was visibly intoxicated.

The lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday by Hawaii Nail & Spa owner Wenjun Cheng names alleged drunken driver Steven Schwally, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and other charges related to the horrific June 28 crash.

Cheng’s husband, Jian Chai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens, who was a co-owner of the salon, was killed in the crash. Cheng is also listed in the lawsuit as an administrator of Chen’s estate.

The accident was "a result of the careless and negligent manner in which the defendant operated and controlled his vehicle," the complaint said.

The suit also names Yong Fang LLC, which owns the Grand Boulevard strip mall where the salon was located, and Stants Liquors Inc., which allegedly sold Schwally alcohol before the crash. Yong Fang failed to install barriers or configure its parking lot to prevent vehicles from crashing into business, the complaint said.

Cheng’s attorney, Nicholas Elefterakis, of Manhattan, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It is not clear if Schwally, who is being held at the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead, or the other defendants have attorneys in the case.

Attorney Christopher Cassar, Schwally’s lawyer in the criminal case, was not available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

A person who answered the phone at Stants Liquors said nobody was available at the store to comment. A person who answered the phone at Yong Fang hung up on a Newsday reporter.

The lawsuit filed by Cheng is the fifth lawsuit filed against Schwally in connection with the crash. It seeks unspecified compensation.

Prosecutors have said Schwally’s blood alcohol content was 0.17%, more than twice the legal intoxication limit of 0.08%.

Schwally, a Marine veteran and retiree who previously worked for a private security firm, initially told Suffolk police that he drank 18 beers the night before he drove his 2020 Chevrolet Traverse at a high speed into Hawaii Nail & Spa on June 28 at 4:32 p.m.

Prosecutors said at his arraignment early this month that 5½ hours before the crash, Schwally bought two 375-milliliter bottles of Montebello Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail and drove around the area until the crash. Fourteen people were inside as he drove through the storefront, Suffolk prosecutors said.

Also killed were off-duty NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park, and salon employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing, Queens.