Steven Schwally, suspect in deadly Deer Park nail salon crash, bought liquor, drove for hours before 78 mph impact, prosecutors say

The alleged drunken driver who crashed into a Deer Park nail salon on a busy Friday afternoon in June, killing three employees and a customer, bought liquor and drove around the area for about five hours before slamming into the building at 78 mph, Suffolk prosecutors said at his arraignment on a 38-count felony indictment Thursday.

Steven Schwally, 64, pleaded not guilty to the indictment charging him with four counts of second-degree murder in a crowded courtroom at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead as several injured survivors of the crash looked on.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bopp said Schwally was a regular at the liquor store adjacent to Hawaii Nail & Spa for 14 years, sometimes stopping there twice in the same day to make a purchase.

At about 11 a.m. on June 28, 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, Bopp said. Fourteen people were inside as he drove through the storefront, the prosecutor said.

Bopp said Schwally asked first responders to help him out of his 2020 Chevy Traverse, but they first had to remove four victims from under the vehicle. He said Schwally never asked about the victims and instead focused his remarks at the scene to concerns about himself.

"I'm a Marine. I'm [expletive]," Bopp alleged Schwally told first responders.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro remanded Schwally to the county jail without bail, citing his possible life sentence and lack of permanent residence among the reasons he should remain in custody.

Schwally "displayed a total disregard for public safety and a depraved indifference to human life," Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

"The defendant had been drinking all day, we allege," Tierney said.

Prosecutors said at 6:10 p.m. on June 28, after investigators secured a blood sample from the hospital through a warrant, they learned Schwally had a blood alcohol content of 0.17%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08%. That was more than 90 minutes after he allegedly drove at high speed through the front entrance of Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Boulevard.

Off-duty NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park, was killed, along with the salon's co-owner, Jian Chai "Ken" Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens. Salon employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, both residents of Queens, were also killed. Nine others, including a 12-year-old girl who appeared in court Thursday on crutches, were injured. The crash survivors in attendance declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

Rennhack was seated on a bench near the front window of the salon with her back to the vehicle as it crashed through the storefront, Bopp said.

"The car, an approximate 5,000-pound, 310-horsepower machine, ripped through the establishment, striking several people and dragging the four bodies before slamming into the rear of the store," Bopp said.

Prosecutors have said Schwally, a retiree who previously worked for a private security firm, drove his Traverse around an adjacent shopping center parking lot filled with pedestrians and vehicles before circling around a Kohl’s and Stop & Shop and positioning the SUV southbound.

Schwally then accelerated in the opposite lane of traffic in the parking lot, nearly striking customers and vehicles before the Traverse crossed over Grand Boulevard, prosecutors said. Vehicle data showed not only that Schwally was driving 78 mph at the time of the crash but that his "accelerator pedal was 99% full," Bopp said.

Schwally has been in custody since being released from the hospital days after the crash. Defense attorney Matthew Hereth, who is representing Schwally along with Suffolk County Legal Aid Society colleague Melissa Kanas, declined to comment. 

During the arraignment, Bopp revealed several new details about the investigation, including how investigators pieced together the way they believe Schwally consumed alcohol before the crash. Bopp previously told the court Schwally said he drank 18 beers the night before the crash, stopping around 4 a.m. A search of the motel room where Schwally was living turned up no evidence of any beer, but investigators instead found an empty bottle of the Long Island iced tea cocktail  — a 42-proof drink, Bopp said. 

Financial records show Schwally spent $13.99 at the same liquor store nearly every day in the weeks leading up to the crash, the equivalent price of two of the bottles found in his car, Bopp said. Video shared with Newsday Thursday shows Schwally enter the liquor store at 11 a.m., purchasing what investigators believe is the bottles inside a black bag that appeared to be waiting for him at the cash register.

A search of Schwally's vehicle found two empty bottles of the beverage and one full one on the front floorboard, Bopp said. 

After the crash, Schwally’s speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled of alcohol, Bopp said, adding that both first responders at the scene and officials at Good Samaritan Hospital made the same observations.

Investigators also used surveillance videos from the area to track Schwally's alleged movements on the day of the crash, arriving at the conclusion that he stayed in the area all day and remained in command of his vehicle until the crash. 

"We were able to recreate in large part the defendant's activities that day," Tierney said. "Suffice to say the defendant was operating his vehicle appropriately, other than the fact that he was intoxicated, until he wasn't. And then he was acting with extreme depraved indifference."

On Thursday, Schwally was again escorted into the courtroom in a wheelchair. He wore a green and white striped jail-issued jumpsuit and mostly looked forward. The wounds on his face that were apparent during his initial court appearance on July 1 had healed and a white beard had grown to cover much of his face.

Schwally has been described by attorneys as a Marine veteran who has lived in Suffolk for 50 years, including four decades in a family home on Millet Street in Dix Hills that was sold following the deaths of his parents. Prosecutors said Schwally, who has a 2014 DWI conviction, had been living in motels for more than a year and was staying at the Commack Motor Inn on the day of the crash. 

 The arraignment began with Ambro saying he would keep the Legal Aid Society on the case as an exception to a policy that would normally see the judge appoint an attorney from the assigned defender program, as is customary for indictments involving murder charges. Ambro, himself a former Legal Aid Society attorney, noted an attorney-client relationship Hereth established with Schwally in the early stages of the case and the attorney's recent work on a different high-profile motor vehicle trial as reasons for allowing him to continue to represent Schwally, pending a review of his finances.

"I'm confident that Mr. Hereth and his second seat . . . are more than qualified to represent Mr. Schwally in this case," Ambro said. 

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.