Police cam interview of Amandeed Singh, suspect in wrong-way DWI crash that killed 2 teen tennis stars can be admitted as evidence, judge rules

Video of a police interview of the man accused of killing two Roslyn teen tennis stars in a wrong-way drunken driving crash moments after the collision will be admitted into evidence at his upcoming trial in February, a Nassau County judge ruled.

The body-camera recording shows construction professional Amandeep Singh, 35, who was indicted last June of aggravated vehicular homicide, drunken driving and leaving the scene of the accident, hiding behind a dumpster about 500 feet from the May 5, 2023 crash on North Broadway in Jericho that took the lives of Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein, both 14.

Singh's blood alcohol content was more than double the legal limit to drive, prosecutors said.

The body-camera footage shows Singh, unsteady on his feet, bleeding from the back of the head and slurring his speech, in the loading bay of a nearby mall. He denies to police in the video that he owns the pickup truck involved in the crash. He also claims that he was by the dumpster looking for his friends and that an unknown assailant attacked him. Both statements prosecutors believe to be false. At one point he appears to mistake Long Island for New Jersey.

Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Michael Bushwack charged that Singh spent the evening in several local bars drinking whiskey and tequila, a bottle of which was found in his truck after the crash.

The prosecutor said that Singh then sped southbound on North Broadway around 10:20 p.m. in his red 2021 Dodge Ram TRX, swerving around cars at speeds of up to 95 mph until he collided with the black 2019 Alfa Romeo carrying Falkowitz and Hassenbein. The Italian car glanced off a Volvo and slammed into a tree on the side of the road, killing the boys. They had just had dinner at a nearby restaurant to celebrate a tennis tournament victory.

Witnesses described a man climbing out of the wrecked truck and fleeing across the Whole Foods parking lot heading in the direction of the loading bay where Singh was discovered by police, prosecutors say.

Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty wrote in her decision that all but 17 minutes of the body camera recording are admissible at trial because Singh was not in custody and officers Kyle Fagan and Kevin Conley, of the Bureau of Special Operations, were still conducting their investigation.

"It remained unknown at that time whether the defendant was the perpetrator, was a passenger in the car that the perpetrator was driving, was an injured victim of the accident, or was a victim of an assault due in large part to the defendant's inconsistent and disoriented statements in response to police inquiry," the judge said.

It was only after an eyewitness to the aftermath of the crash identified Singh as the fleeing suspect did police have probable cause to arrest him and should have stopped the interview, Gugerty ruled.

Portions of the body camera footage after that moment will be suppressed from the jury.

Gugerty rejected arguments by defense attorneys Edward Sapone and James Kousouros that the eyewitness identification video should be withheld at trial because police were overly suggestive in fingering Singh.

Statements Singh made in the ambulance, the hospital and the patrol car on the way to jail will be allowed to be shown to the jury because they were "spontaneously and voluntarily made" and were not part of a police interrogation.

Nassau County District Attorney spokeswoman Nicole Turso said that prosecutors are reviewing the decision.

Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin on Feb. 4, 2025.