Drunk Driver Sentenced For Wrong-Way Massapequa Park Crash That Killed Cousin, Second Victim

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Juan De Leon Collado, age 30, of Freeport, was sentenced to between seven and 21 years in prison in Nassau County Court on Monday, Jan. 29 after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and related charges.

Prosecutors said Collado had been drinking at a Farmingdale sports bar before he got behind the wheel of his Honda CRV shortly before 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2022.

He proceeded to drive westbound in the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway in Massapequa Park at a high rate of speed. Collado’s cousin, 29-year-old Amaury Ramirez Lora, was in the front passenger seat.

After driving the wrong way for nearly a half mile, Collado slammed head on into a Honda Civic near Park Boulevard.

The impact killed the Civic’s passenger, 24-year-old Nicholas Berardino Jr., and left the 28-year-old driver with serious injuries, including a fractured hip.

Emergency responders had to extricate Lora from the CRV after he became trapped. He died from his injuries two weeks later at Nassau University Medical Center in Hempstead.

Following the crash, Collado was knocked unconscious. He was hospitalized with injuries, including internal bleeding.

In November 2023, he pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, assault, and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

“The moment he turned the key to his car, Juan De Leon Collado condemned two innocent men to die,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. 

“Drunk driving is at epidemic levels on Long Island. NCDA continues to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law to remind drivers everywhere: drunk driving costs lives.”

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