9 Years Later: Limo Crash Families Demand Change: 'A Dreadful Day'

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Nancy DiMonte, Joelle’s mother, served on a state task force that worked to institute new limo reform legislation.

But despite the reforms, more needs to be done, she and the others have said.

This week, DiMonte told Patch that she is working to advocate for legislation to lower the state’s BAC level, and to create focus attention on those driing while under the influence of marijuana.

“It’s been nine years and we still need to improve the legislation,” DiMonte said. “Too many people are on the roads while under the influence. They need to toughen up on the punishments so that people are frightened to go on the road while under the influence.”

Marijuana laws need to be strengthened and the BAC level lowered, she said; the state task force she was a part of, one that organized by former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, was dismantled as they were about to begin examining those issues, DiMonte maintains.

Reflecting on the horrific crash that took the lives of four young women with so much ahead, DiMonte said she and the other families do not believe there has ever been closure.

“It’s a dreadful day,” she said. “You don’t forget.” Her own daughter, while doing well, is, like the three other surviving women, forever marked by that dark day. Together, they look at photos of the friends they lost under those blue July skies.

“We don’t want people to forget,” DiMonte said. “We want people to know that this doesn’t have to happen if you have the correct legislation in place.”

She added: “Our sadness isn’t going to go away. Our anger remains — as long as the legislation isn’t going to do its job.”

As the number of DWI-related crashes and deaths continues to spike across Long Island, DiMonte said much still needs to change. In Cutchogue, where the limo crash took place, the county has still not installed a green turning arrow on Depot Lane, one that they have asked for, for almost a decade now.

A memorial that had stood at the spot where the crash took place was taken down with no warning; DiMonte said the families are still working to create another. “We’re not going to let them forget, just like we won’t forget. We can’t believe it’s been nine long years. We vow that will be sure everyone remembers what happened to those four girls.”

She added: “I will not stop until something is done.” DiMonte says she and the others would like to see increase signage that states “No U Turns” for limos.

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Nine years, she said, “And we’ve never had justice.”

Paul Schulman, who lost his daughter Brittney in the crash, has also been faced with new, unthinkable tragedy in the past year — he lost his wife Suzanne in December after a battle with cancer.

“Brittney was taken on July 18, and my wife died on December 18,” he said. “At least she’s with her mom now. I just wish they were here with me, every day.”

Of that day the nightmare unfolded, nine years ago, Schulman said: “It feels like an eternity but it feels like only yesterday.”

On Thursday, he said he and others would be going to a mass for the girls; another will take place on July 27.

After nine years, he said, questions remains, wounds that will never heal still feel raw with grief.

Schulman questions with the hundreds of memorials to the lost documented on roadways across Long Island, their tribute was removed.

Schulman, too, said he is passionate about lowering the BAC; in the states where that change has been enacted, there has been a proven drop in DWI deaths, he said. He also hopes for the creation of a minimum threshold at which drivers can be held responsible for driving while under the influence of marijuana.

Also, he said, although limo reforms were adopted, there needs to be a uniform way to determine if those new mandates are being actively embraced and enacted.

He also has cried out repeatedly fo the “No U Turns” signage for limousines.

Despite the years and the anguish the families have endured, Schulman will forever demand awareness — and change, he said. “We won’t stop. There has to be some justice for what happened to our girls.”

Last year, the families of the girls who died and the survivors who were gravely injured in a 2o15 limo crash received a $6.1 million settlement, an attorney told Patch — but according to those left behind, no financial compensation can ever ease the ache of grief that still hangs heavy over all their lives.

According to Robert Sullivan, who represented the family of Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithown, who died in the crash, the settlement for the civil suit comprised a total of $6.1 million, of which Southold Town paid $100,000.

“Money can never make up for this tragic loss,” DiMonte told Patch. “It has been a long road and we have not recovered emotionally. Some still suffer physically, some with PTSD, and we still need to know why this happened. Roads are unsafe and not on the radar, as they should be.”

Despite the financial settlement, DiMonte said: “I am still upset that we never learned about why this happened. Recovery from this senseless tragedy is not going to come easy. It’s been uphill for too long.”

Sullivan, who lives in Southold Town, said in his opinion, the town did not listen to warning signals from residents in the months before the crash: “The Southold Town board could not have cared less about the death of those four girls,” he said.

He referenced the times Cutchogue resident Bill Shipman had come before the board in the months and years before the crash to publicly ask for help with the issues posed by Vineyard 48 — which has since closed — including traffic, dangerous U turns by limos, public urination, and other quality of life concerns.

“I’ve been complaining about this for almost four years,” Shipman said in 2016, after the crash. “You tell me what I’m supposed to do. I stopped complaining — and the tragedy happened.”

Then- Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell told Patch last year: “We have recently learned that the litigation resulting from the tragic accident involving a limousine in July of 2015 has ended. We continue to hold our thoughts and prayers in our hearts for those affected by this tragedy,” Russell said.

The supervisor added: “On June 21, 2023 the court dismissed all claims filed against the Town of Southold by the attorney representing the plantiffs. In short, the judge in the case found that the claims made by the attorney had no merit and the town was not at fault. Subsequent to the decision and unbeknownst to the town, the insurance carrier representing the town made a business decision and offered a minor contribution to a global settlement offered by the target defendents in this case. We were told that the town’s modest contribution was made based on the estimated costs of continuing to defend the action and the recently filed appeals. While we are confident that a decision favorable to the town would be issued once again, the town has no control over such business decisions. The negligible contribution made, and the fact that the attorney took it, is a clear indication to everyone that his case against the town had no merit and the town had no culpability.”

And, Russell said: “It is time to move on and focus on road safety, not criticism, ill-will and bitterness from legal defeat, so that such tragedies never happen again.”

The eight girls had just left Vineyard 48 when the horrific crash took place. Residents crying out for change said the limos leaving the winery at the time were too large for the U-turns they made Depot Lane in order to head west on Route 48.

Schulman said, after the settlement: “It’s been eight-and-a-half years, and we have no accountability, we have no answers.” Of the settlement, he said: “No amount of money could ever satisfy us, or bring any of them back.”

He added that road safety in Suffolk County remains of critical concern.

This week, reflecting on the day of the crash, he said: “We have more questions now about what happened, than we have answers. We have no answers.”

In 2020, after years of advocating tirelessly for change, parents applauded comprehensive limousine reforms agreed upon by both the Senate and Assembly.

With 154 pages of recommendations, some of the key points addressed, DiMonte told Patch, included removing limos from the road that are more than 10 years old or have driven 350,000 miles; more stringent inspection of equipment; augmented driver training and driver drug testing; pre-trip safety training for limo passengers; and enhanced side panel protection.

In 2018, the lane at the entrance to Smithtown High School West, known as LABS Lane, was dedicated in tribute to the girls.

“You see these eight beautiful babies? The way I’m leaving them with you, I want them back.”

Those were the heartbreaking words Felicia Baruch uttered to limo driver Carlos Pino before the Cutchogue crash.

The words were revealed as part of a 156-page New York Supreme Court Suffolk County Special Grand Jury Report in 2016, with recommendations discussed at a press conference convened by then-Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

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