RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) - A New York City firefighter drove drunk in the wrong direction before crashing into a car driven by a high school teacher, killing him instantly, prosecutors on Long Island said as they announced new charges against the firefighter.
Firefighter Joseph Norris, 38, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges including aggravated vehicular homicide in the Nov. 20, 2020, death of 44-year-old teacher Anthony Mariano.
Prosecutors said Norris spent several hours drinking at a strip club, then drove south in the northbound lanes of the Sunken Meadow Parkway and crashed into Mariano’s sport-utility vehicle. Mariano was pronounced dead at the scene. Norris lost both legs in the crash.
“This was a senseless tragedy caused by someone who was sworn to protect the safety of others,” Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said in a statement. “His blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit when he made the decision to get behind the wheel of a car - a decision that proved to have fatal, devastating consequences.”
Norris, a resident of Babylon, initially faced only drunken-driving charges in the crash. He has been suspended from the Fire Department with pay.
Newsday reports that defense attorney Anthony LaPinta called Norris a “terrific family guy” and said, “This is yet another motor vehicle tragedy that has befallen two good people and has devastated two loving families.”
Mariano taught social studies at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens. His fiancee, Christie Azzolini, told Newsday, “Today is the first step on a long journey I am sure. But I have a little relief knowing he is charged.”
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