Seaford man was victim of fatal Wantagh crash, police say

A Seaford man, 22, has been charged with manslaughter after a fatal crash in Wantagh, police said. Credit: John Scalesi
The victim of a fatal Saturday morning crash caused by an alleged drunk driver has been identified as Vincent C. Ferrara of Seaford, Nassau police said Sunday night.
Matthew Smith, 22, of Seaford, was driving a 2017 Dodge Ram pickup truck, heading east on Jerusalem Avenue about 12:30 a.m., when the truck crossed the center yellow line and collided head-on with a 2015 Chrysler sedan driven by Ferrara, 23, according to Nassau County police.The crash happened near Tusk Lane.
Smith and Ferrara were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where Ferrara was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m.
Smith was charged with driving while ability impaired, reckless driving, manslaughter and reckless endangerment. He was arraigned Saturday. His bond was set at $50,000 cash, court records show.
He remained in custody Saturday afternoon and was scheduled to appear in Nassau First District Court in Hempstead on Friday at 9 a.m.
Anthony McGlone, an 18-year-old MacArthur High School senior who lives near the crash site, said he and a friend were driving to grab a late night meal at a fast-food restaurant when they came across the fiery crash after 12:30 a.m. They and other bystanders stopped at the crash site, he said Saturday.
McGlone said he ran to the sedan in fear that it could explode with the driver still trapped inside. He said he used a crowbar and golf club to break the vehicle’s windows in an attempt to reach the victim before he and a classmate pulled him from the wreckage through the passenger door.
“I just ran [to the vehicle],” he said. “I didn't really think about it.”
An almost two-minute video of the crash scene that McGlone shared with Newsday shows several bystanders standing close to the burning vehicle while one man, whom McGlone says is himself, attempts to break the driver’s side windows. The video shows debris, car parts and glass glittering on the ground.
The shaky video doesn’t clearly show the victim being retrieved from the vehicle, but wails and shouts, along with warnings from bystanders who said they smelled gasoline, are heard. The bystanders also cheered on the teens.
Nassau police would not confirm whether bystanders pulled the victim from the burning vehicle, citing an open investigation.
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