MADD is following the criminal proceedings of the alleged impaired driver who crashed into the Long Island Nail Salon on June 28, 2024, killing four people and injuring nine more. Steven Schwally, 64, was charged with four counts of second-degree murder. The grand jury’s decision to indict him on multiple murder charges sends a powerful message: drunk driving is a violent crime that wont be tolerated. Murder charges are rarely filed agains drunk driving offenders. However, the communities determination to pursue such charges acknowledges impaired is a deliberate decision with fatal consequences, and highlights the inherent violent nature of the crime.
MADD New York extends its deepest condolences in support to the families affected by this traffic event. Victims iancai Chen, 37, Yan Xu, 41, Meizi Zhang, 50-all salon staff- and Emilia Rennhack, 30, an off-duty New York police officer, lost their lives in this preventable tragedy.
Impaired driving is a worsening public health crisis. 2 out of 3 people will be impacted by drunk driving in their lifetime. Every 78 seconds, someone is killed or injured in a drunk driving crash. These numbers are unacceptable. We need a transformative solution to end this crime. MADD firmly believes impaired driving can be eliminated with passive, livesaving auto technology, required by federal law through the HALT Act as soon as 2026. This technology will save more than 10,000 lives per year and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries.