Terrible Car Accident
For Bellmore teens, a horrible wake-up call
BY EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Special to Newsday
April 28, 2007, 8:48 PM EDT
It was the last place they expected to be on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
But many of the 35 teenagers who gathered in the median of the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills Saturday said they simply had to come see the spot where two high school buddies died in a horrific car crash Thursday night.
"I didn't want to come but I had to come," said Deena Polsinelli, 16, who said that just hours before the crash, one of the victims, Giacomo "Jack" Alfieri, had asked her to go to the prom.
"Jack was my prom date, and Mike was my best friend," said Polsinelli, referring to the other victim, Michael Moniz. Both victims were 17.
They sifted through a vast debris field of car parts and latex gloves left behind after the crash in which the two seniors at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore were killed after their car hit a tree in the median at more than 100 mph. at 8:27 p.m.
With Moniz, of Bellmore, in the passenger seat, Alfieri, of Merrick, was weaving in and out of traffic in his father's 2007 BMW in the eastbound lanes of the parkway just west of Exit 42, Deer Park Avenue, when the accident occurred, police said.
The mourners gathered at the crash site Saturday to erect a memorial. They left flowers, candles and tied a cross made of red, white and green flowers to the tree where their friends' lives ended.
As she watched her son Marc, 18, tie a cross to the tree, Suzanne Frank said the accident would not stop teens from driving at high speeds, but it should.
"Certainly for our kids it's a wake-up call," she said.
Both victims' families announced plans for funeral services Saturday. Visiting for Alfieri will be Monday from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the N.F. Walker Funeral Home in Merrick. His funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the Cure of Ars Parish in Merrick.
The viewing for Moniz will be Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Bartholomew Funeral Home in Bellmore. The funeral Mass will be Monday at 11:45 a.m. at St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Bellmore.
At the crash scene Saturday, teenagers spent the afternoon sifting through the brush. They found earphones, a gray headrest and Alfieri's acceptance letter to Hofstra University, where he had planned to study business in the fall. He was an only child who had burns on his arms from pulling hot pizzas out of the ovens at the Bohemia restaurant that his family runs.
"His father, Anthony, will probably never be the same," said Barbara Skelly, a former waitress at Saviano's on Sunrise Highway that the Alfieri family has run for 30 years. She stopped by the restaurant Saturday to drop off a flower at the door.
A sign taped to the door said the restaurant would be closed until further notice.
Roman Spinner, 58, who lives in the same house as the Moniz family, described Michael as a polite boy with an easy smile who seemed fascinated by cars.
"He was constantly in the backyard tinkering around with the family's three cars."
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