The Suffolk County Police Department has released the identities of the four people killed Friday when an SUV crashed into a nail salon on Long Island.
Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens; Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park; Yan Xu, 41, of Flushing, Queens; and Meizi Zhang, 50, of Flushing, Queens, were killed, the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement Saturday.
Nine people, including a 12-year-old girl, were injured in the accident.
Customers and employees were at Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Boulevard in Deer Park when an SUV crashed into the front window, police said.
Rennhack, one of the victims, was an off-duty New York police officer who was getting her nails done at the time of the accident.
She was an officer in the 102nd Precinct in Queens. A New York City Police Department spokesperson confirmed her death on Saturday.
The New York Police Benevolent Association said it “is heartbroken” by Rennhack’s death.
“Please join us in praying for his family, friends and co-workers,” the association said in a statement. Facebook post.
All four people killed died at the scene. Nine other people, aged between 12 and 58, were injured.
Four are being treated at area hospitals for serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and five others were treated at hospitals, police said.
The driver, Steven Schwally, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. He remains hospitalized and will be processed at a later date, the department said Saturday.
Authorities allege he was driving a Chevrolet Traverse southbound at a high rate of speed through a parking lot when he crossed Grand Boulevard and continued driving through the nail salon parking lot before crashing into the window.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with