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Amandeep Singh, 36, of Roslyn, was sentenced to between eight and 25 years behind bars in Nassau County Court on Friday, Feb. 7. It followed his guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide in the deaths of Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein.
Singh admitted that he was speeding, intoxicated, and high on cocaine when he crashed his pickup truck head-on into a car with four teenagers on North Broadway in Jericho on the night of May 3, 2023.
The crash killed Falkowitz and Hassenbein, both 14. Two other teens suffered serious injuries, including a concussion, a leg injury, and shards of glass that needed to be removed from one of the victim’s eyes.
Ethan and Drew were students at Roslyn Middle School and members of the Roslyn High School tennis team, as Daily Voice previously reported. The teens had been celebrating a tennis match victory at a local restaurant earlier that evening, according to prosecutors.
Singh fled the scene but was found by Nassau County police hiding near a dumpster in a nearby shopping center. A blood test taken hours after the crash revealed a blood alcohol level of .15% and the presence of cocaine.
Moments before the crash, Singh had been driving 95 miles per hour, prosecutors said. An analysis of the event data recorder in his vehicle showed he was going 75 miles per hour in a 40 mile-per-hour zone at the time of impact.
On Friday, Jan. 3, Singh pleaded guilty to the following counts:
- Aggravated vehicular homicide
- Two counts of second-degree manslaughter
- Driving while ability impaired by combined influence of alcohol and a drug
- Driving while intoxicated
- Four counts of assault
- Leaving the scene of an incident without reporting
“The lives of every driver on North Broadway that night were meaningless to Amandeep Singh, as he sped, high on cocaine and drunk on alcohol, until he crossed over traffic and crashed into a car full of teenage boys, said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. "Ethan Falkowtiz and Drew Hassenbein will never grow up, graduate from high school, or go to college because of this selfish and callous defendant."
Donnelly urged state lawmakers to pass tougher sentencing laws for impaired drivers.
“We need legislation that ensures drivers like Singh who make these disastrous choices face consequences that reflect the true devastation they cause and adequately hold them accountable," she said. "I will continue to urge our New York State lawmakers to work with my office and the families of victims like Ethan and Drew to impose tougher penalties for those who drive under the influence and take precious lives.”
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