Follow-up: Driver in Corvette/Lamborghini Street Race Convicted. . .
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Follow-up: Driver in Corvette/Lamborghini Street Race Convicted. . .
Hi Everyone,
We'll all seen the photos from last year's fatal street racing incident, here's the follow-up story. . .
Man convicted in auto deaths can only await his sentence
By Robin Topping
Newsday
STAFF WRITER
July 26, 2002
On the day that would forever alter his life and the lives of three families, Kevin Hart left his Malverne house to drive to a local beach to join his brother Christopher for a barbecue.
When he went into his garage to get the truck he used as a plumber, he stopped. "I was going to take the truck, but it was too beautiful a day," Hart said earlier this month.
So he climbed instead into his 1990 metallic blue Corvette, the one he had spent two years customizing, the one he usually took out only to display at car shows or to race at a strip in New Jersey. "I have always been in love with the Corvette," said Hart, 28.
That day, however - June 24 of last year - Hart took his dream car for a spin, and nothing would ever be the same.
Within a few minutes of getting into the Corvette, Hart encountered a silver 2001 Lamborghini driven by Michael Vasapolli, 30, of North Woodmere. Hart said Vasapolli pulled up next to him several times on Lawson Boulevard in Oceanside and tried to entice him into a street race by revving his engine. He said he sped up only to get away from Vasapolli.
"I had had enough of being bothered and I had had enough of this guy. I wanted to get away. So I hit the gas," Hart said.
Prosecutors, however, say it was Hart who challenged Vasapolli and the two engaged in a high-speed race that ended when Vasapolli, who was going about 85 mph, crossed a double-yellow line and hit head-on a Volvo driven by Glenn Jacofsky of North Woodmere, with his wife, Amy, in the passenger seat.
Both men were killed. Amy Jacofsky suffered serious injuries. Incredibly, Vasapolli's wife, Karen Mauro, escaped serious harm. The impact was so severe that the debris from two shattered vehicles made some witnesses believe it was raining.
Hart was unhurt except for the blackened eyes he suffered from the impact of his air bag releasing. His Corvette had only light damage, because he was able to pull out of the way of the crash.
A year later, a jury convicted Hart of two counts of manslaughter for instigating the street race that led to the two deaths. Nassau County Court Judge Donald DeRiggi is expected Thursday to sentence him. He faces a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison, although Hart's friends and family have inundated DeRiggi with letters begging for a more lenient sentence.
"It's going to be rough to deal with," Hart said of his potential fate as he sat at the Nassau County jail recently, wearing a cotton jumpsuit, accompanied by his attorney, Edward Jenks. "But it's the path that I have been forced to walk right now."
Hart says the crash was not his fault. While he feels for the victims' families, he said he should not be punished for Vasapolli's actions.
"If I could, I would change places with Mr. Jacofsky ...," Hart said. "I'm a giving person. To see the two families in such pain, and then to turn around and see my own family in such pain, is unbearable."
Asked whether he should take responsibility for the deaths, Hart said, "There might be a small bit just because I was there ... But I was 100 feet behind the accident ... I feel they're holding me responsible for the actions of another man."
Prosecutor Frank Schroeder said however Hart paints himself, he can't change the facts of what happened that day. Hart told a police officer and civilians on the scene that he was racing with Vasapolli, although he now denies it. And while Hart said he was far back from the crash, prosecution witnesses say the Corvette was adjacent to the Lamborghini until the accident.
"My position is that he may be a wonderful fellow, but on a particular day, the evidence was overwhelming about how self-centered he was. He wasn't worried about anything else but having fun," Schroeder said.
The Jacofsky family declined to comment.
According to the trial transcript, Mauro testified that the Corvette started it all when it pulled up next to the Lamborghini and Hart revved his engine, attracting Vasapolli's attention.
"It was just a very loud revving, and that was how I kind of put together what my husband was laughing about," Mauro testified. "I looked back at my husband and I just said, 'Don't do it, don't even do it.'"
Schroeder said witnesses, including an off-duty New York City police detective, estimated the cars were doing between 85 mph and 100 mph down the crowded boulevard.
Schroeder also pointed to Hart's driving record, which is marked by three speeding tickets and six accidents. He said Hart races his Corvette regularly and had souped it up for better speed. Inside, the car has a roll cage and a five-point harness to protect Hart. And then there is the license plate: LOV2XLR8.
Hart said the prosecution has misinterpreted his character and motivations. He said he has remodeled his car exclusively for show and changed his license plate at the suggestion of his brother, because "you get extra points for creativity" at car shows.
Hart's love of cars has been a lifetime pursuit. He is a member of the Performance Drivers Association, in which amateur drivers learn from professionals about precision driving and racing. On weekends, he shows his car at events where vehicles are judged on how they look and drive. "You have to be in control of your vehicle," he said. "It's not about going fast. It's about precision driving."
Hart grew up in Malverne. He has one brother, as well as a stepfamily because his mother married a second time when he was young. He went to the New York Institute of Technology and dropped out in his fourth year to apprentice with a friend's father, who had a plumbing business in Brooklyn. "I liked working with my hands." he said.
His boss, Harvey Brod, said he had intended to leave his business to Hart. "He's the guy who was the designated driver when my son did stupid things. I would always know Kevin would get him home and he would be OK," Brod said. "He is a gentleman. He has the keys to my business and my home. I have put my trust in him."
Friends say Hart still lives in his family's house, in a room filled with "Star Wars" models, video games and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
"Oh God, did he love 'Star Wars,'" said a lifelong friend, Hillary Lazare of Malverne. "The trilogy, he can do the whole thing by heart. We went out and waited on line a good hour with reserved tickets so he could see the re-release."
His brother, Christopher, who is 2 years older, said Kevin stayed at home in recent years to help care for his sick grandmother.
Christopher Hart called his brother "the exact opposite of the person the prosecution said he was. The prosecutor said he had a devil tattoo on his arm. Yeah, he has one of a Warner Brothers cartoon of the Tasmanian Devil. Where's the evil in that?"
Christopher Hart said that while his brother showed little emotion at the trial, he has internalized the stress, which has led to him developing insomnia and the painful disease shingles.
"At the trial, he was just trying to control himself because he didn't want to upset my mother ... " he said. "But I also know that after the accident, when I saw him at the hospital, his eyes welled up and his hands were clenched and he was pale and it took me a long time to calm him down. ... Imagine seeing that before your eyes? He woke up a lot at night with a lot of nightmares."
We'll all seen the photos from last year's fatal street racing incident, here's the follow-up story. . .
Man convicted in auto deaths can only await his sentence
By Robin Topping
Newsday
STAFF WRITER
July 26, 2002
On the day that would forever alter his life and the lives of three families, Kevin Hart left his Malverne house to drive to a local beach to join his brother Christopher for a barbecue.
When he went into his garage to get the truck he used as a plumber, he stopped. "I was going to take the truck, but it was too beautiful a day," Hart said earlier this month.
So he climbed instead into his 1990 metallic blue Corvette, the one he had spent two years customizing, the one he usually took out only to display at car shows or to race at a strip in New Jersey. "I have always been in love with the Corvette," said Hart, 28.
That day, however - June 24 of last year - Hart took his dream car for a spin, and nothing would ever be the same.
Within a few minutes of getting into the Corvette, Hart encountered a silver 2001 Lamborghini driven by Michael Vasapolli, 30, of North Woodmere. Hart said Vasapolli pulled up next to him several times on Lawson Boulevard in Oceanside and tried to entice him into a street race by revving his engine. He said he sped up only to get away from Vasapolli.
"I had had enough of being bothered and I had had enough of this guy. I wanted to get away. So I hit the gas," Hart said.
Prosecutors, however, say it was Hart who challenged Vasapolli and the two engaged in a high-speed race that ended when Vasapolli, who was going about 85 mph, crossed a double-yellow line and hit head-on a Volvo driven by Glenn Jacofsky of North Woodmere, with his wife, Amy, in the passenger seat.
Both men were killed. Amy Jacofsky suffered serious injuries. Incredibly, Vasapolli's wife, Karen Mauro, escaped serious harm. The impact was so severe that the debris from two shattered vehicles made some witnesses believe it was raining.
Hart was unhurt except for the blackened eyes he suffered from the impact of his air bag releasing. His Corvette had only light damage, because he was able to pull out of the way of the crash.
A year later, a jury convicted Hart of two counts of manslaughter for instigating the street race that led to the two deaths. Nassau County Court Judge Donald DeRiggi is expected Thursday to sentence him. He faces a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison, although Hart's friends and family have inundated DeRiggi with letters begging for a more lenient sentence.
"It's going to be rough to deal with," Hart said of his potential fate as he sat at the Nassau County jail recently, wearing a cotton jumpsuit, accompanied by his attorney, Edward Jenks. "But it's the path that I have been forced to walk right now."
Hart says the crash was not his fault. While he feels for the victims' families, he said he should not be punished for Vasapolli's actions.
"If I could, I would change places with Mr. Jacofsky ...," Hart said. "I'm a giving person. To see the two families in such pain, and then to turn around and see my own family in such pain, is unbearable."
Asked whether he should take responsibility for the deaths, Hart said, "There might be a small bit just because I was there ... But I was 100 feet behind the accident ... I feel they're holding me responsible for the actions of another man."
Prosecutor Frank Schroeder said however Hart paints himself, he can't change the facts of what happened that day. Hart told a police officer and civilians on the scene that he was racing with Vasapolli, although he now denies it. And while Hart said he was far back from the crash, prosecution witnesses say the Corvette was adjacent to the Lamborghini until the accident.
"My position is that he may be a wonderful fellow, but on a particular day, the evidence was overwhelming about how self-centered he was. He wasn't worried about anything else but having fun," Schroeder said.
The Jacofsky family declined to comment.
According to the trial transcript, Mauro testified that the Corvette started it all when it pulled up next to the Lamborghini and Hart revved his engine, attracting Vasapolli's attention.
"It was just a very loud revving, and that was how I kind of put together what my husband was laughing about," Mauro testified. "I looked back at my husband and I just said, 'Don't do it, don't even do it.'"
Schroeder said witnesses, including an off-duty New York City police detective, estimated the cars were doing between 85 mph and 100 mph down the crowded boulevard.
Schroeder also pointed to Hart's driving record, which is marked by three speeding tickets and six accidents. He said Hart races his Corvette regularly and had souped it up for better speed. Inside, the car has a roll cage and a five-point harness to protect Hart. And then there is the license plate: LOV2XLR8.
Hart said the prosecution has misinterpreted his character and motivations. He said he has remodeled his car exclusively for show and changed his license plate at the suggestion of his brother, because "you get extra points for creativity" at car shows.
Hart's love of cars has been a lifetime pursuit. He is a member of the Performance Drivers Association, in which amateur drivers learn from professionals about precision driving and racing. On weekends, he shows his car at events where vehicles are judged on how they look and drive. "You have to be in control of your vehicle," he said. "It's not about going fast. It's about precision driving."
Hart grew up in Malverne. He has one brother, as well as a stepfamily because his mother married a second time when he was young. He went to the New York Institute of Technology and dropped out in his fourth year to apprentice with a friend's father, who had a plumbing business in Brooklyn. "I liked working with my hands." he said.
His boss, Harvey Brod, said he had intended to leave his business to Hart. "He's the guy who was the designated driver when my son did stupid things. I would always know Kevin would get him home and he would be OK," Brod said. "He is a gentleman. He has the keys to my business and my home. I have put my trust in him."
Friends say Hart still lives in his family's house, in a room filled with "Star Wars" models, video games and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
"Oh God, did he love 'Star Wars,'" said a lifelong friend, Hillary Lazare of Malverne. "The trilogy, he can do the whole thing by heart. We went out and waited on line a good hour with reserved tickets so he could see the re-release."
His brother, Christopher, who is 2 years older, said Kevin stayed at home in recent years to help care for his sick grandmother.
Christopher Hart called his brother "the exact opposite of the person the prosecution said he was. The prosecutor said he had a devil tattoo on his arm. Yeah, he has one of a Warner Brothers cartoon of the Tasmanian Devil. Where's the evil in that?"
Christopher Hart said that while his brother showed little emotion at the trial, he has internalized the stress, which has led to him developing insomnia and the painful disease shingles.
"At the trial, he was just trying to control himself because he didn't want to upset my mother ... " he said. "But I also know that after the accident, when I saw him at the hospital, his eyes welled up and his hands were clenched and he was pale and it took me a long time to calm him down. ... Imagine seeing that before your eyes? He woke up a lot at night with a lot of nightmares."
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