A Dix Hills woman was seriously injured at a Deer Park nail salon when an accused drunk driver plowed his car into the business, killing four people. She filed suit Friday against the man behind the wheel, the liquor store that sold her alcohol before the crash and the salon he drove to.
Nicole Miele, 54, said her life was changed forever after she suffered broken ribs, a broken sternum and cuts to her eyes, face and chest around 4:30 p.m. on June 28 when Steven Schwally sped his 2020 Chevy Traverse at 78 mph through the Kohl’s parking lot, crossed Grand Boulevard and barreled into Hawaii Nail & Spa, according to prosecutors.
At the time, there were 14 people in the store, including a 12-year-old girl. The salon’s co-owner, Jian Chai “Ken” Chen, 37, Employee Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, and NYPD officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, from Deer Park, died in the accident. Miele and four others were seriously injured.
Schwally, 64, pleaded not guilty to 37 charges, including murder, aggravated traffic homicide and drunk driving. Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was 0.17 per mille, more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Steven Schwally appears in a Central Islip courtroom on July 1. Photo credit: James Carbone
Miele told Newsday that she has been going to the salon for 14 years and knows the owner and many of the nail technicians.
She had made an appointment for a manicure and pedicure at 2 p.m. that day, her first in two months, to get ready for the Fourth of July holiday the following week. The salon was busy, so there was a 20-minute wait, she said. She went next door to Stants Liquors to buy tequila because she planned to make margaritas for the holiday party.
Miele sat down for her manicure and then moved to the last chair in the back of the salon so Zhang could do her feet.
“After she was finished, she said, ‘Nicole, done.’ And I said, ‘Oh, so beautiful.'”
Those were her last words to Zhang.
“All of a sudden there was an explosion and I hit the ground,” Miele told Newsday. “Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I thought there had been a gas explosion. I said, ‘Can somebody please help me? I can’t breathe.’ I turned around, looked over and thought my eye was bleeding.”
She said she could see through the cloud of dust that Chen was trapped under the car.
She said she heard Schwally screaming for help in the chaos.
“People were screaming and yelling, ‘Call 911,'” Miele said.
A woman came to her and held her on the ground until the police and emergency services arrived.
“That’s all I remember. It was a tragedy,” she said. “It was a horrible, horrible experience.”
Miele’s attorney, Joseph Dell, filed a lawsuit against Stants Liquors on behalf of her and her husband, Mark Miele, for gross negligence. According to prosecutors, the store sold Schwally two 375-milliliter bottles of Montebello Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail.
Suffolk County prosecutors said Schwally regularly purchased alcohol from Stants, sometimes twice a day.
Dell said the liquor store is required under New York State’s Dram Shop Act not to sell drinks to intoxicated individuals.
The liquor store owners hung up when asked for comment Saturday.
The lawsuit also names Yong Fang LLC, owner of the mall, and Hawaii Nail & Spa for failing to install bollards or other barriers in front of the store.
“Nothing can stop a vehicle from breaking into store windows and killing people,” Dell said.
Yong Fang and the surviving salon owner could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
