February 22, 1986 Four Long Island teen-agers returning from a fast-food restaurant were killed Friday night when their car was struck head-on by a speeding car and exploded into flames, the Suffolk County police said. The driver of the other car died later, authorities said.
The police said that car, a red Pontiac Firebird, was in the center lane of a five-lane portion of Route 25 near Hawkins Avenue in Lake Grove, L.I., when it slammed into the teenagers’ car, which was preparing to turn left.
The police said the Pontiac had been leaving the scene of an accident, 500 yards down the road, in which it had sideswiped another car.
A spokesman for the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office said yesterday that toxicology tests on the body of the driver of the Pontiac had not been completed. The police said the driver, Derek Strachan, 22 years old, of Selden, L.I., had been taken to University Hospital in Stony Brook, where he died shortly after arrival.
The four teen-agers, three of whom were students at Sachem High School in Lake Ronkonkoma, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 10:35 P.M., according to Sgt Edward J. Dwyer of the Suffolk County Police Department.
The police identified the driver of the second car, a Volkswagen Rabbit, as Darrin Lauterborn, 17, of Holtsville. They identified the passengers as Michele Ann Manno, 15, Laura Ann Parrinello, 15, and Christine McKay, 16, all of Lake Grove.
Miss Parrinello’s father, Thomas, said his daughter, a freshman at Centereach High School, had eaten dinner with Mr. Lauterborn. She had been dating for about a month, Mr. Parrinello said.
The couple then joined Miss Manno and Miss McKay at the Manno residence. Miss Manno and Miss Parrinello were cousins.
After watching television and talking for an hour or two, the four teen-agers decided to go to a Taco Bell in Centereach, according to Miss Manno’s brother, Jerry.
When a light rain stopped falling, they asked permission from Miss Manno’s father and Miss Parrinello’s mother before getting into Mr. Lauterborn’s Volkswagen for the short trip into town, according to family members.
Mr. Parrinello said he had been returning from a trip into Manhattan with a family member when they went by the crash scene. He said he thought he recognized Mr. Lauterborn’s car, and went home to make sure that his daughter was there.
After discovering that she had not returned, he then drove back to the crash scene, where he made inquiries.
Mr. Parrinello said that he would not let his daughter ride in Mr. Lauterborn’s car when she first began dating the young man, but later gave his permission.
”My only fear was that he had such a small car,” Mr. Parrinello said. ”I never wanted her to go into the car. I told Darrin, ‘I love my daughter too much.’ ”
NY Times 2/23/1986
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