It was a Mother’s Day of sorrow in Farmingdale, L.I., following the deaths of four teenagers on Saturday in a horrific car accident that may have been the result of a drag race.
Tristan Reichle’s mother should have been spending the sunny Sunday with her son. Instead, Alejandra Reichle was sobbing outside her home.
“God needed more angels,” she said through tears, hugging the sister of 15-year-old Noah Francis.
“Remember, they were best friends,” she added, referring to Noah and Tristan. They died together when a 2001 Nissan sedan in which they were riding crossed into oncoming traffic on Conklin St. and slammed into a GMC Suburban.
The dead also included 18-year-old Jesse Romero and 14-year-old Carly Lonnborg. The teens were identified by relatives and friends. Three other people were seriously injured in the collision.
Noah’s sister, Celeste Tziamichas, had him move in with her in November after his father died in August, she said.
His mother had previously passed away.
Tristan Reichle, one of four Farmingdale High School students killed in a crash on Conklin St. on Saturday.
Carly Lonnborg, 14, died in the Long Island car accident.
Veronique Louis for New York Daily News Noah Francis, 15, was killed Saturday when the Nissan he and his friends were in crossed into oncoming traffic.
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“I forgot it’s Mother’s Day,” said Tziamichas, 29. “It’s not Mother’s Day here.”
Two of Jesse’s friends said they were told the teens in the Nissan were drag racing, but cops would not confirm whether another car was involved.
“I guess they were just hyped and just wanted to race down the street,” Damon Japutra, 16, said at Jesse’s wake Sunday night. “I heard they were going around 100 (mph) and just lost control.”
“It’s crazy. I was so shocked,” he added.
Mike O’Brian, 19, said he’d heard a similar account. “Everybody is saying they were drag racing,” O’Brian said.
Police were investigating and had not determined the cause of the accident as of Sunday night.
An online fund to help Noah’s family pay for his funeral had already raised more than $ 18,000.
“He was very funny,” said Tom Tziamichas, 33, Noah’s brother-in-law. “I know they say that about everyone who’s passed. He really had a good sense of humor. He loved to entertain. He was very sociable. He just loved people.”
At the crash site, fellow classmates of the four tragic friends from Farmingdale High School lit candles and left flowers at a makeshift memorial.
“It’s just sad,” said Louis Villamil, 17, who said he was close with Jesse. “This happened before graduation. He was excited to graduate and experience the world.”
Five teens were in the Nissan as it headed west on Conklin St. and hurtled into the Suburban at 12:04 a.m., Nassau County police said. Two of the passengers, both male, were ejected from the Nissan and sent flying through the air. One died at the scene. Cops did not identify that passenger by name. The other, identified by a neighbor as Cody Talanian, 17, was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition.
The other two passengers, Carly and an unnamed male, were killed upon impact, police said.
The driver, who was also not named, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
Carly’s father was too overcome to discuss his daughter’s death. “I’m in the middle of this right now,” said Carly’s father, John Lonnborg. “I’m going to need some time to process.”
The 53-year-old driver of the SUV and a woman riding with him were taken to a Long Island hospital in serious condition.
They are from Maryland and had been visiting family on Long Island, Newsday reported.
Police were looking into whether alcohol played a role in the accident. They were also combing through the teens’ cell phones to determine whether anyone was texting or talking on a call at the time of the crash.
Investigators have reportedly been told that at least some of the teens were seen drinking at a party Friday night.
Reichle, Tristan’s mother, denied the report. “They weren’t drinking,” she said. “They weren’t partying.”
With Eli Rosenberg
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