An 18-year-old Rockland County man has pleaded guilty to all 17 counts he was indicted on in connection with a 2021 DWI crash that killed a 16-year-old classmate and seriously hurt three others in his vehicle, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Joseph DeBellis, of Airmont, was 17 when he was behind the wheel of a 2003 Jaguar sedan that veered out of control, splitting a utility pole in half before flipping on its side on Route 202 in Montebello last April.
Jacqueline Zangrilli, who was in the backseat, died. She was only 16. Zangrilli attended Suffern High School along with the other people in the car. Three of them were hospitalized following the crash and were expected to fully recover from their injuries.
Prosecutors say DeBellis rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to state prison for up to four years in exchange for a guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide. Instead, DeBellis pleaded guilty to all 17 counts in the indictment, allowing the court to sentence him to six months incarceration followed by five years' post-release probation.
Prosecutors say they objected to the lesser sentence, noting DeBellis was drunk and driving at speeds in excess of 80 mph when he caused the deadly crash. It wasn't clear where the underage driver got the alcohol.
"No parent should ever have to bury their own child," Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh II said in a statement announcing the sentence Wednesday. "Drinking while driving is an egregious offense that is easily preventable. We must use tragic events like this as learning lessons for our teens, that your actions and decisions have real consequences. My heartfelt sympathies go out to the Suffern community and the families impacted by this tragedy."
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Friends of the victim who lost her life made the same point almost a year ago.
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"It's devastating, doesn't seem real," Malcolm Sloan, a friend of Zangrilli, said at the time of the deadly accident. "We know what we are and aren't supposed to do, and it's devastating to see people go out there and make these mistakes that we learn time and time again are not acceptable."
