Driver of pickup truck who collided with family’s car also died.
AB Wire
An Indian man from Long Island, New York, and his parents visiting from India were killed, while his wife is critically injured, after the car they were in collided head-on with a pickup truck, the driver of which also died in the horrific collision, last Monday night. Miraculously, the 11-month-old baby of the Indian couple survived.
Suffolk police said Chandan Gavai, 38, the driver of a 2014 Nissan Altima, his father, Kamalnayan Gavai, 74, and mother, Archana Gavai, 60, died after the crash at about 10:46 p.m. on Monday night. NBC New York reported Gustave Geyer, the truck driver, crashed into the family’s Nissan Altima on Yaphank Middle Island Road and was immediately killed.
Gavai was in the United States on a work visa, working with an IT firm, and he and his family lived in Hauppauge, friends said. His parents were visiting. Gavai’s 32-year-old wife, Manisha Surwade, and the couple’s 11-month-old son survived the crash, but Surwade remained in critical condition at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital, reported NBC.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Gavai, a graduate of University of Mumbai, was a senior programmer and analyst at Broadbridge Financial Services of Edgewood, New York, since July 2011. Surwade was an alum of the University of Pune.
The family were returning after watching the July 4th fireworks, Manish Sandbhor, a friend of the Gavais, was quoted as saying by Newsday.
Family members were expected to begin arriving from India this week to make funeral arrangements and to care for the baby, said the NBC report.
Yaphank Middle Island Road was closed down a mile away from the scene of the collision Tuesday morning. A cop car blocked access to the road at Shannon Boulevard as rain poured down.
News 12 Long Island reported citing an unnamed source that the driver of a pickup truck involved in the fatal collision had a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit.
Police say Geyer, of Ridge, had been at a family party and was speeding and driving erratically when he lost control of his pickup truck and slammed into the Nissan driven by Gavai on Yaphank-Middle Island Road.
The 25-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy was conducted. The source tells News 12 that Geyer’s blood alcohol content was 0.16, which is twice the legal limit.
The president of the India Society of Stony Brook started a GoFundMe page to help pay for the three funerals and Manisha’s Surwade’s hospital bills.
Newsday reported later that the condition of Surwade has improved enough that she was transferred from Brookhaven Memorial Hospital to Stony Brook University Hospital.
She remains in critical condition, but a family friend told Newsday that she is “responding to the treatment.”
1 Comment
May God give strength to the immediate family, peace to the departed souls, recovery and well being for injured mother/wife and healthy/safe future for the survived newborn.