DRUNK-DRIVER SMASHES INTO NAIL SALON KILLING 4, SPEAKS OUT

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime, News

4.2 • 8.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steven Schwally, the former marine who plowed his vehicle through a nail salon killing four says behind bars, "his goose is cooked." Shocking video released of the moments leading up to a devastating crash that claimed four lives at a nail salon on Long Island. The horrific footage appears to show the ex-marine visibly disheveled, buying liquor, before getting behind the wheel of his SUV and allegedly turning his vehicle into a deadly battering ram.

Stephen Schwally is seen on video speeding through a parking lot at close to 80-miles-per-hour, almost hitting pedestrians in a crosswalk before charging at full-speed into the Hawaii Nail & Spa. The video appears to show no deceleration from Schwally's vehicle, and the sound of screams can be heard from the salon as customers are seen running out of other businesses to see what is happening.

Inside Hawaii Nail & Salon, four people are dead, 9 others injured, some very seriously. One of those killed is NYPD Officer, Emilia Rennhack. The 30-year-old was assigned to the 102nd precinct in Queens where her husband, Carl Rennhack, is a detective. The Rennhacks were a month away from celebrating their one-year anniversary. Emilia Rennhack was getting her nails done for a friend's upcoming wedding.

41-year-old Yan Xu, and 50-year-old Meizi Zhang both worked at Hawaii Nail & Salon and were also killed in the crash. Yan Xu's family is seeking help in a fundraiser on GoFundMe to raise money for the care of her elderly father and her 12-year-old son, who has polio.

Kenny Chen, the manager of Hawaii Nail & Salon is among the 4 killed when the SUV crashed through the salon at nearly 80 miles per hour. Chen's wife was also at the salon at the time, and she is critically injured. She has already had one surgery with more to come, doctors say her recovery will take at least two years. The Chen's have two children, ages ten and five, and with their father dead and the mother facing multiple surgeries and years of recovery, a GoFundMe is set up by a nephew who says with the salon their only source of income, with Kenny Chen dead and his wife critically injured, they don't know where to turn for help.

Joining Nancy Grace today:

Ben Powers - Criminal Defense Attorney, Facebook: Legal Powers PLLC, https://legalpowers.com
Joseph Tremblay - Principal engineer and accident reconstructionist at Veritech consulting engineering, www.veritecheng.com
Erica Linn - National Ambassador with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving and a member of the Regional Advisory Board for MADD in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania
Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU
Lauren Conlin - Podcaster/Reporter/Host- The Outlier Podcast & Co-Host of Primetime Crime on YouTube. Website: www.popcrime.tv & primetimecrimeshow.com X- @Conlin_Lauren, Instagram- @LaurenEmilyConlin, YouTube: @PopCrimeTV

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
0:05.0	Talk about self-centered, the alleged drunk driver who kills four people at a nail salon speaks out after the horrific
0:17.8	crash and what does he say I'm sick with guilt I feel horrible I want to speak to the families of my victims
0:27.4	I want to donate any money I have to college funds and funeral expenses.
0:33.5	Oh, H E double L N O, the man accused of drunkenly plowing into a Long Island nail salon at 78 MPH killing four, including an off-duty
0:47.7	NYPD cop. She'd only been married one year. What does he say? Quote, it's over for me. What else does he say? My goose is cooked.
1:03.0	What else does he say?
1:05.0	I don't like to think about it.
1:08.0	I bet he doesn't.
1:10.0	What more do we know about a crash, a horrible crash, deadly four times over caused by
1:20.8	former Marine Stephen Schwale. Now he's trying to use being a marine in the past as a
1:27.3	defense. I doubt the Marines are going to look very kindly on him shrouding himself in the marine mystique as a defense for killing
1:40.1	four people.
1:41.1	Oh, but back to him, what happened? You know, so often at
1:46.7	trials I would have defense attorneys actually say to a jury, where's the video? They
1:51.9	can't prove this happened. They can't prove that, let's just say this confession ever happened. They can't prove the cops didn't beat the guy into a confession. But guess what what there is video. What exactly happened? Listen, What happened?
2:21.0	What exactly happened? Listen.
2:22.0	Shocking video released of the moments leading up to a devastating crash that claimed four lives at a nail
2:27.5	salon on Long Island.
2:29.4	The horrific footage appears to show that X-Marine visibly dishevelled buying liquor before getting behind the
2:35.1	wheel of his SUV and allegedly turning his vehicle into a deadly battering ram.
2:40.3	The alleged killer. As a matter of fact, as far as I can tell, he's actually wobbling as he walks into the liquor store.
	...

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