The man accused of crashing his SUV into a nail salon in Long Island on Friday, killing four people, allegedly drank 18 beers before getting behind the wheel.
The crash happened at Hawaii Nail & Spa in Deer Park just after 4:30 p.m.
Steven Schwally, 64, is now facing a DWI charge. He appeared in a Suffolk County courtroom in a wheelchair and hospital scrubs on Monday. He was ordered to be held on $1 million bail.
"The defendant's vehicle went through the intersection, went airborne, struck the curb in front of the Hawaii Nail & Spa, navigated through one empty parking spot and slammed through the Hawaiian Nail & Spa's front window," Suffolk County prosecutor Alexander Bopp said in court.
Bopp said Schwally admitted to drinking 18 beers the night before the incident. He stopped drinking around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.
The case will now be presented to a grand jury, where Schwally could face more charges.
Who is Steve Schwally?
The 64-year-old is unemployed and lives in hotels after retiring from a job with UPS, the New York Post reported. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Schwally did not speak at court, instead just shaking his head at times.
He was also arrested for drunk driving in 2013 when he collided with a mailbox in Dix Hills.
The four people killed in Friday's crash were 30-year-old NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 37-year-old Jiancai 'Kenny' Chen, 41-year-old Yan Xu and 50-year-old Meizi Zhang.
Rennhack was assigned to the 102nd Precinct in Queens, where her husband is a detective. She was off-duty at the time of the crash, and she was at the nail salon to get her nails done for a friend's wedding.
Her husband, Det. Carl Rennhack, became emotional at the court proceeding on Monday and fellow NYPD officers tried to comfort him.
The two had just gotten married in September.
Chen was the nail salon's manager, according to a GoFundMe set up by a family member. His wife was critically injured in the crash. The two have a 10-year-old and a 5-year-old together.
"With the shop completely destroyed and their mother suffering from critical back and hip injuries, the family has lost their only source of income," Vincent Zheng wrote on the fundraiser.
Xu and Zhang worked at the salon.
Xu's family has also set up a GoFundMe to raise money for her elderly father and 12-year-old son, who has polio.
""Me and her family [members] were shocked and deeply grieved when we got this news. We cannot [believe] that we lost her forever," Shihua Yang wrote on the fundraiser.
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