7-21 Yrs. In Prison For Killing 2 In Drunken Driving Crash: Nassau DA

MINEOLA, NY — A Freeport man has been sentenced to up to 21 years in prison for a wrong-way drunken driving crash that two killed two people in 2022, prosecutors announced.

Juan De Leon Collado, 30, pleaded guilty in November to aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree assault and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

His sentence on Monday was seven to 21 years in prison.

"The moment he turned the key to his car, Juan De Leon Collado condemned two innocent men to die,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. "Collado had been drinking much of the evening at a sports bar in Farmingdale when he stepped behind the wheel and careened down Sunrise Highway straight into oncoming traffic."

According to the charges, on Nov. 6, 2022, at approximately 4:23 a.m., Collado was driving a 2003 Honda CRV westbound in the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway in Massapequa Park near Park Boulevard speeding and intoxicated. Collado’s cousin, 29-year-old Amaury Ramirez Lora, was in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.

Collado continued driving in the wrong direction on Sunrise Highway for approximately a half-mile before striking a 2022 Honda Civic head-on driven by a 28-year-old man and carrying 24-year-old victim passenger Nicholas Berardino Jr.

Berardino and Lora were killed in the crash.

"Drunk driving is at epidemic levels on Long Island. NCDA continues to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law to remind drivers everywhere: drunk driving costs lives," Donnelly said.