19°
Luke G. Stein, 19, apologized to the victims and their families, some of whom addressed the judge emotionally, during a sentencing hearing in Hackensack on Friday, June 30.
Lital Aburus said she'd had nine surgeries, including cosmetic operations on her face, neck and arms, along with a broken collarbone.
Ariana Grant spoke of laying in a hospital bed “not knowing if I was going to be paralyzed or mentally disabled.”
Parents also told Superior Court Judge James X. Sattely what Stein did to their children and families.
The chain of events began last October with a late-night birthday party that drew no fewer than 50 mostly underage guests to the Schaffer Road home of Charles and Rosemary Kim in Alpine.
The theme was “European nightclub,” complete with a deejay, disco ball and alcohol.
At some point, a fight apparently broke out. Someone threw a beer can that hit another teen in the head.
The teenager responsible was knocked down, then called his own friends after getting up.
A dozen or so of them – including Stein -- arrived soon after.
A small group of friends hurriedly left the party around the same time, drawing attention.
Mikkel Leutgeb, whose Honda Pilot they piled into, told investigators that he and his friends split "because a person had a gun," according to a complaint on file in Superior Court in Hackensack.
Stein was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee that bumped the Pilot from behind at a red light on southbound Route 9W at Hillside Avenue, investigators said.
Behind them was a 2022 Porsche Macan and a Honda Fit, both driven by friends of his.
Stein, who was a volunteer firefighter in Alpine and Demarest, activated a blue and white emergency light on his dashboard, the criminal complaint says.
The occupants of the Pilot initially believed it was a police officer trying to pull them over. Before Mikkel could come to a stop, however, the Jeep rear-ended his vehicle a second time, they told detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Fatal Accident Investigations Unit.
Afraid that this was actually someone trying to harm them, Mikkel hit the gas.
The vehicles raced at more than 100 miles an hour south on dark and winding Route 9W, witnesses in a trailing car told the investigators.
A half-mile or so down the road, Mikkel lost control while trying to turn onto Montammy Drive. The SUV crashed into the woods, trapping three of the five teens in it.
Those in Stein's Jeep "did not see the Honda crash but turned into the Montammy Golf Club because they believed the Honda must have turned there," the complaint filed by Bergen County Prosecutor's Detective Daniel Tanelli says.
"They proceeded into the club and began to search the property for the Honda, but were unable to locate it,” it says.
So they left.
SEE: Teens Critically Injured In Road-Rage Crash On Route 9W
Stein was already returning to the East Madison Avenue home in Cresskill of his mother, Wendy Stein, and stepfather Manuel "Manny" Alfonso, a career law enforcement officer with federal and state experience, when the call came in, authorities said.
An emergency alert on his firefighter pager said there’d been a motor vehicle accident at the golf club, according to the complaint.
Stein “responded to Alpine Fire/EMS headquarters and returned to the scene with emergency personnel," it says.
He participated in the recovery effort – including helping to carry one of the stretchers from the wreck, according to a joint lawsuit filed on behalf of all of the victims and their families, except for Leutgeb.
SEE: New Details Disclosed By Lawyer In Route 9W Road-Rage Crash That Critically Injured Teens
Stein "wanted to see what happened to them," Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Christine Caputo-Howland said during Friday’s sentencing – which she called “depravity.”
Leutgeb suffered a fractured lumbar, a broken leg and facial damage, according to his family.
Grant, meanwhile, had a severely lacerated scalp, broken ribs, pierced lungs, fractured vertebrae in her neck and spine and a broken arm and ankle.
Jonathan Battaglia spent his 18th birthday recovering in the hospital from punctured lungs, a broken leg, several fractures, a gash on his head and brain hemorrhaging.
Kevin Trejos suffered two compound lumbar fractures, a bruised lung, a respiratory infection and cuts on his hip.
Aburus had a massive number of injuries, including a shattered arm among various broken bones and all the cuts and bruises on her face and body.
The prosecutor's detectives secured an arrest warrant for Stein after a brief preliminary investigation. They had to go to Colorado, where he was a freshman at the state university, to serve it.
Stein was seized and eventually returned to New Jersey, where a judge in Hackensack allowed his release – with conditions – pending trial on five counts of aggravated assault and impersonating a law enforcement officer.
SEE: Driver Seized In Colorado In Route 9W Crash That Critically Injured Bergen County Teens
Stein took a deal from prosecutors rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial. He pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault causing significant bodily injury and to stalking in exchange for leniency.
Even though he was sentenced to five years, Stein theoretically could be free again in 18 or so months if things break his way in prison.
Part of the deal prohibits him from contacting any of the victims or their families. Their civil actions will move swifter through the court system now that the criminal case is concluded.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Edison and receive free news updates.
