Deer Park nail salon victims Yan Xu and Jiancai Chen remembered as devoted to family

Yan Xu would go to Deer Park to do Long Islanders’ nails so she could send money back to China to support her son, who has polio, and her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, a family friend said.

In Flushing, Queens, where Xu lived, that salary also went to help Xu's 68-year-old father — she was his only child — so he didn't have to work longer than two days a week at a restaurant, the friend, Hai Ying Wang, told Newsday, speaking in Mandarin.

For the July Fourth holiday, Xu, 41, had plans to take a break — for a barbecue — said Wang, 49, who was planning to attend.

But on Friday, Xu was among workers, bosses and customers inside the Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Boulevard when an alleged drunken driver crashed through the storefront, injuring nine and also killing four, including Xu.

Two other salon personnel were among the dead: co-owner Jiancai Chen 37, of Bayside, Queens, and Meizi Zhang, 50, of Flushing. Another fatality was a customer, Emilia Rennhack, 30, who lived in Deer Park and worked in the city as an NYPD officer.

Chen's wife, Wen Jun Cheng, was critically injured. The couple has two kids, ages 5 and 10, said Chen's brother, Steven Chen, and sister, Vicky Chen. Less than two weeks before the crash, the extended family had celebrated Father's Day with a party, singing and a group video, Steven Chen said.

“I can't believe this happened to my brother,” Steven Chen said, speaking at a news conference in Flushing. He added, breaking down into tears before finishing his sentence: “We were such a happy family. Now it's all …”

Vicky Chen wept as she recalled in Mandarin having dinner with Jiancai Chen the night before the crash.

The 10-year-old has been told that the father is dead; the family doesn't want the 5-year-old to know yet. Other family is caring for the kids.

The driver, Steven Schwally, 64, who is undomiciled, was charged with driving while intoxicated in connection with the crash. Schwally, who had a previous conviction a decade ago for impaired driving, is accused of being drunk behind the wheel of his 2020 Chevy Traverse at about 4:30 p.m. Friday.  

At an arraignment Monday afternoon, where a prosecutor said Schwally told police he had consumed 18 beers the night before the crash, he was ordered jailed on $1 million cash, $2 million bond or $5 million partially secured bond.

It was about two hours after the crash that Xu's father, Peijian Xu, got a call telling him about the crash — but not that his daughter had died — said Wang, a caregiver at a nursing home.

He only learned the news when he got to the scene.

“Her father refused to believe it,” Wang said. “He couldn't accept it. Her father kept saying, ‘This can't be true.’ ”

At one point, he said he wished he could trade places with his daughter.

“Yan Xu was too young,” Wang recalled the father saying.

Funeral plans are set for later this week for Rennhack.

No funerals for the three other victims are yet planned, as key family members are in China, according to Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens), whose district includes several of the victims' homes.

Attempts by Newsday to reach the family of Zhang have been unsuccessful. Xu’s father also couldn’t be reached.

Wang said that Yan Xu, who's originally from Shanghai, had worked at the salon for about a year and would be picked up and driven to Long Island, along with other workers. Xu’s husband, who is in China, is hoping to come to America but is having passport renewal problems. Expedited visa interviews are being arranged for the victims' families to meet with a U.S. consular officer in China, according to Meng. 

There are about 850 nail salons on Long Island, about 400 of which are owned by people with Chinese ancestry, according to Peter Yu, president of the Chinese Nail Salon Association of East Asia.

Xu, who did manicures and pedicures at the salon, would regularly send money back to Shanghai to pay for nursing care for her son and her mother, Wang said.

Even though Xu’s father did not earn much money at the restaurant, his daughter’s support meant he didn’t have to work even more.

In the interview, Wang would sometimes speak about her beloved friend in the present tense, praising her for being filial — fulfilling the obligation to care for her family.

“Yan Xu is a very cheerful, enthusiastic and filial person who is loved by everyone,” Wang said. She added: “She is full of hope for life and likes all beautiful things.”

With Grant Parpan and John Asbury