Police ID Victims in Triple Fatal Long Island Crash

UPDATE 6:45 p.m.: Jerome Weingarten, 74, and his wife, Randee Weingarten, 71, of Middle Island, have been identified as the occupants of the 2009 Honda CRV. Angelo Belford, 19, of Bellport, has been identified as the passenger of the 2015 Nissan Rogue killed in the crash. Angelo Belford is Nahriek Belford’s brother. Jaquell Funderburke, 16, was a passenger in the Nissan and survived the crash.

MIDDLE ISLAND, NY – Three people were killed and two others seriously injured in a Long Island crash Saturday night.

A Suffolk County Police officer observed a gray 2015 Nissan Rogue fail to stop at a stop sign and operating in a reckless manner on Main Street in Yaphank around 11:45 p.m., police said.

The Nissan had been reported stolen on Feb. 7 from Montauk Highway in East Patchogue. The officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver, 17-year-old Nahriek Belford, fled, police said.

The officer followed the Nissan while radioing for back-up assistance. The Nissan was traveling westbound on Route 25 in Middle Island when it struck a 2009 Honda CRV that was attempting to make a left turn onto Birchwood Park Drive at about 11:50 p.m.

The driver and a passenger in the Honda, a 74-year-old man and his 71-year-old wife, and a 16-year-old passenger in the Nissan, were pronounced dead at the scene Their identities are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Belford, and another passenger in the Nissan, were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries.

Belford, of Bellport, was charged with one count of reckless endangerment. Additional charges are anticipated, police said. He will be arraigned at a later date.

The investigation is continuing and detectives are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact the Major Case Unit at 631-852-6555 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.