A convicted drunk driver was sentenced to decades in prison for hitting and killing two middle school tennis stars on Long Island last spring.
Those who knew and loved Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein packed the courtroom Friday and two overflow rooms for the sentencing of Amandeep Singh, who was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison for causing the May 3 wrong-way crash.
Singh had pleaded guilty last month to driving drunk and high, and crashing pickup truck at 90 miles an hour into a car carrying the two high school tennis players and two of their teammates.
"What this man committed is just beyond thinkable, and he gets 25 years?" said Mitch Hassenbein.
"[Ethan's] future was limitless. And now we're left with no recourse, no justice. Just a lifetime of pain, heartache and utter disbelief," said Gary Falkowitz.
Falkowitz's dad was one of nine family members who over the course of roughly two hours in a packed courtroom, condemned Singh as a murderer and talked about the bright selfless teens Singh had killed.
"Why didn't you go home, you turkey? You should have just gone home to your two kids," shouted Jack Hassenbein, the 14-year-old's grandfather.
After the crash, police body cameras captured Singh lying about his involvement; he had run from the crash scene and was found hiding behind a dumpster.
In court for his sentencing, Singh apologized, "The disregard I showed for others makes me sick. If anyone should have died, it should have been me."
"His eyes were down, he was crying. You know, this is just an unspeakable tragedy," James Kousouros, Singh's attorney, said.
Nassau County's district attorney, who said Singh offered "hollow words," again called for tougher drunk driving penalties, a cry echoed by one of the crash survivors.
Zachary Sheena said the crash left him with physical and emotional scars, but he vowed to lobby for tougher penalties.
"I don't know why I survived, but it will not be in vain," Sheena said in court.
