What to Know
- A Long Island man pleaded guilty to striking and killing a man after driving away from a Long Island diner while drunk in 2023, the district attorney announced.
- Willem Specht pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated vehicular homicide, assault and aggravated DWI for the Jan. 2023 incident that took the life of 61-year-old Joseph Devito
- The charges stem from the deadly crash at the On Parade Diner on Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury, Donnelly said. Specht went to the diner to pick up soup, but as he backed up his car to leave, it accelerated rapidly, hitting Devito who had been talking to a friend on a sidewalk
A Long Island man pleaded guilty to striking and killing a man after driving away from a Long Island diner while drunk in 2023, the district attorney announced.
Willem Specht pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated vehicular homicide, assault and aggravated DWI for the Jan. 2023 incident that took the life of 61-year-old Joseph Devito, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Monday.
The charges stem from the deadly crash at the On Parade Diner on Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury during the afternoon of Jan. 18, 2023, Donnelly said. Specht went to the diner to pick up soup, but as he backed up his car to leave, it accelerated rapidly.
Devito was standing on the sidewalk talking to a high-school friend as Specht got into his gray 2004 Infinity sedan and surged in reverse right at them, according to prosecutors. Devito suffered severe trauma and was taken to Syosset Hospital, where he died shortly afterward. Specht only narrowly avoided hitting Devito's friend as well.
After hitting Devito, Specht kept going in reverse and drove over another sidewalk, then hit a ramp and metal railing leading into the diner before going into the outside wall of the diner itself, Donnelly said. He drove forward a bit after that, stopping in a parking spot at the diner.
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Specht then got out and stayed in the parking lot, but tried to leave some time later, only to be stopped by a witness. He was arrested shortly after.
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The felony complaint states Specht had slurred speech and red glossy eyes after the crash, with a BAC level nearly three times the legal limit; more than three hours after the incident, it was measured at .18, which would still be more than double the legal limit.
According to the document, Specht told police his vehicle had accelerated rapidly on its own.
"Willem Specht, a recidivist drunk driver with two prior convictions, was more than two times the legal limit for alcohol when he struck and killed Joseph Devito, who was standing outside the On Parade Diner saying goodbye to his lifelong friend,” said Donnelly. “Joseph was a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a friend to many. His family has endured immeasurable heartbreak because of this defendant’s reckless and entirely preventable actions."
The 63-year-old Specht, of Wantagh, is expected to be sentenced to seven to 15 years in prison on Sept. 25. Attorney information for Specht was not immediately clear.
