August 29, 2008
Stunned by the sight
Officer at crash that killed Katie Flynn, his niece, says he didn't initially realize his family was involved
Michael Tangney didn't know it was his family inside the ruined limousine when he came upon the horrific accident scene on the Meadowbrook Parkway, he told a Nassau jury yesterday. He realized what had happened only when he looked inside and saw his brother suspended from the bent metal, his splintered legs wrapped around what had once been the limo's bar.
Tangney, 50, a Long Beach police officer, said he saw his niece, Jennifer Flynn, sitting on the guardrail holding her daughter Katie's severed head in her arms. He told her she needed to get into the ambulance, but Jennifer told him, "I'm not leaving."
"She was calm, lucid and succinct," Tangney said. "She said, 'You're going to have to put me on a stretcher, tie me down and take me away, because I'm not leaving.' "
When Tangney insisted, Flynn said, "I want to go with Katie," and Tangney said she could. He said he asked Jennifer if he could go with her and Katie to the hospital and she said, "I want to be alone."
Tangney testified yesterday on the second day of the murder trial of Martin Heidgen, 25, the Valley Stream man prosecutors say caused the crash by driving drunk the wrong way on the parkway on July 2, 2005. Killed in the crash were Katie Flynn, 7, who had just served as a flower girl in her aunt's wedding, and the limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, 59.
The first two days of testimony in the trial have been grueling, with crash survivors and the first people at the scene testifying in wrenching detail about everything from the beauty of the night the Flynn family had just spent together at the wedding to the hideous scene after the crash. Jurors have shown little emotion, while members of the Flynn and Rabinowitz families have wept quietly in the gallery.
Depraved indifference
Prosecutors have charged Heidgen with second-degree murder, saying the amount he drank - they say his blood-alcohol content was about three times the legal limit to drive - and that he seemingly ignored warnings to pull over demonstrate a depraved indifference to human life.
Heidgen's lawyer, Stephen LaMagna of Garden City, said that, while his client may have made mistakes, he is not a murderer. He said Heidgen was lost that night and that he tried to slow down once he realized he was going the wrong way.
Earlier yesterday, a Nassau medical examiner testified that he did not need a family member to identify Katie's body at Nassau University Medical Center, because when her mother arrived she was still holding her daughter's remains.
The testimony from Dr. Michael Demartino drew a quick and vehement objection from LaMagna, who has argued that unnecessary references to Katie's decapitation could prejudice the jury. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof, who has ordered the prosecution to limit testimony on the topic, struck that testimony from the record.
Demartino testified that Katie may have been decapitated by her seat belt.
Witness smelled alcohol
Several passersby who stopped to help after the crash and some of the first police officers to arrive at the scene offered the first testimony about Heidgen's condition immediately after the crash.
"I walked to the truck, and I smelled alcohol as soon as I opened the door," said Michael Ierardi, 41, a Brooklyn court officer who stopped to help on his way home. "He was wedged under the dashboard, and he was muttering."
Freeport Police Officer Christopher Pandolfo, the first at the scene, testified that he touched Heidgen's shoulder and asked whether he was OK.
"I don't know," Heidgen replied, according to Pandolfo. "Where am I? What happened?"
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
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