A life-altering crash on Lengthy Island left one household torn aside and preventing for justice.
Aryn Singleton’s journey from tragedy to restoration has been each bodily and emotionally grueling, as she grapples with the lack of her husband and the trauma of the crash that modified her life perpetually.
On April 19, Aryn and her husband Will went for a driving on Dawn Freeway. They have been in Will’s roadster, a Slingshot, having fun with the gorgeous climate. Every thing occurred so shortly that Aryn by no means even noticed what occurred.
“I woke up, the car was wrapped around me, wires all over the place, I couldn’t feel my leg, and a bone was sticking out,” Aryn recalled, describing the harrowing second when she regained consciousness.
The evening was a painful blur. She was in excruciating ache and remembers a girl who got here as much as her on the crash website asking if she was okay.
“All I remember is asking how my husband was, when I saw she started to cry that’s when I knew something was wrong.”
Will Singleton, 48, had been ejected from the Slingshot and died on the scene.
Based on court docket papers, 19-year-old Brian August, of Medford, was charged with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault and DWI. The criticism states August was driving east in Massapequa on Dawn Freeway close to Unqua Street in a 2023 Bentley SUV round 9 p.m.
August allegedly made an abrupt lane change from the far left-turning lane all the best way to the proper, placing the roadster the Singletons have been in. The collision set off a sequence response ending with the roadster slamming right into a utility pole.
Bria Niland, Aryn’s daughter, acquired an alert on her cellphone that her mom had been in a crash. She raced to the intersection that evening.
“The automotive seemed fully flattened. It seemed like no one might have survived that accident, so I simply broke down,” mentioned Niland.
Court docket papers point out police noticed August to have “glassy, bloodshot eyes” and “slurred speech” and that he initially refused a chemical take a look at via a blood draw, however later submitted to at least one after a court docket order. Regardless of the intense expenses, August was launched on $500,000 bail, and his subsequent court docket look is about for Could 28.
His protection lawyer confirmed that he pleaded not responsible at his arraignment. If convicted, August faces 5 to fifteen years behind bars.
For Aryn and her household, the costs do not feel adequate.
“Getting behind the wheel while you’re intoxicated is a choice,” mentioned Niland. “It feels like he should do significant time.”
Aryn herself echoed this sentiment, including that the state of affairs didn’t make sense to her.
“You have been within the automotive, you have been driving the automotive, you have been drunk, we had an accident. It was your fault,” she mentioned.
Aryn’s battle doesn’t finish within the courtroom. She can also be studying to stroll once more after present process intensive leg surgical procedure. The bodily ache she faces is a continuing reminder of the life she had earlier than the crash — a life that now seems like a distant reminiscence.
“I really hope he gets time for this and it’s not brushed under the rug,” mentioned Aryn.
The Nassau County district lawyer’s workplace declined to remark, saying an investigation was ongoing.