A Staten Island, New York, family has experienced a whirlwind of emotions after police incorrectly told them that their loved one had been killed in a car crash.
The day after a deadly Oct. 30 crash involving a pedestrian, police told Sheila Nagengast, of Staten Island, that her sister Denise Owens, 44, had been killed, according to Glen Devora, who is Nagengast's attorney.
Devora said the family was “devastated" by the news and did not learn until 36 hours later that it was another woman, not Owens, who had died.
“They had to notify the rest of their family members, including their kids, about what happened. They even went as far to start planning funeral arrangements and discussions of whether or not they would have an autopsy, decisions you would make when discussing the death of a loved one,” Devora said.
Justine Perez, 37, of Staten Island, was killed in the crash, police said.
Police acknowledged the mistake Wednesday.
“During the course of our initial investigation, the NYPD misidentified the victim of a fatal vehicle collision," police said in a statement. "Upon further investigation, a proper identification and subsequent family notification was made. We apologize for the unfortunate grief we may have caused.”
The crash occurred about 10:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Staten Island intersection of Hyland Boulevard and New Dorp Lane, police said in a separate statement that incorrectly identified the victim as a 44-year-old woman.
An 18-year-old man driving a Nissan Maxima struck the pedestrian, police said. The driver remained on the scene, and there were no arrests, but an investigation was ongoing, the statement said.
The pedestrian was declared dead at the north campus of Staten Island University Hospital, police said.
Police did not specify how the mistake happened in their statements.
The police department hasn't “fully explained how the mix-up happened,” Devora said. “They haven’t fully explained why they notified the first family of the mistake," he said, adding that because of the fatal crash and how police responded, two families were in “disarray.”
Devora said he is also representing the Perez family, who were in the “process of planning a funeral.”
Devora said he’s trying to piece together how the mistake was made because Owens “wasn’t walking in the area at the time [of the collision]. She had no knowledge of the incident."
