RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) - A Long Island man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for causing a crash that killed his brother and a couple during a police chase in 2019.
Nahriek Belford pleaded guilty in February to manslaughter, felony assault and unlawfully fleeing police in the Middle Island crash, Newsday reported Thursday.
Belford, 19, of Bellport, apologized to the family of crash victims Jerome and Randee Weingarten, saying he was “sorry for the bottom of my heart.”
The couple had recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
The crash also killed Belford’s 19-year-old brother, who was a passenger in the stolen SUV Belford was driving.
“You did this,” acting judge Fernando Camacho told Belford before announcing the sentence.
The Feb. 9, 2019, crash happened after Belford, then 17, fled police in a stolen Nissan Rogue, authorities said.
A Suffolk County police officer tried to pull over Belford after seeing him go through a stop sign in Yaphank. But the motorist sped away, disregarding red lights, crossing into oncoming traffic and reaching more than 100 mph before crashing into a Weingartens on Route 25, authorities said.
The impact split the Honda in half and killed the couple, who had been returning home after a dinner out.
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