MILLBROOK — New York State Police troopers were called to investigate a one-car collision with a tree at the intersection of Route 343 and Altamont Road early Sunday morning, July 11. The car was empty, but the airbags and steering wheel were covered in blood. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responders were on the scene treating teenager Melissa Davis, one of the injured occupants, in a nearby, uninvolved vehicle. She was the only one who remained at the scene of the accident. Davis was stabilized and transported by EMS to St. Francis Hospital with a broken neck, where she remains in stable condition.
As police investigated the scene, two other crash victims, Chelsea Bestian-Hamilton and Jesse Hughes, returned, complaining of pain and admitting to immediately running away from the accident. Hughes identified the missing driver as Vincent Liberatore, 17, and said there were five occupants in the car. After speaking to police, Bestian-Hamilton and Hughes were both transported to St. Francis for observation. Three of the five youths involved in the accident graduated from Millbrook High School this June.
Police located the fifth passenger, Luciene Parrinello, at her Millbrook home. She told authorities that all of the occupants of the car had been drinking in the presence of her mother, Karen Parrinello, earlier that evening. The daughter said that at some point her mother became upset and told her and her friends to leave.
According to a press release issued by the state police, Liberatore, who was reportedly behind the wheel, was later arrested for Assault in the Second Degree, Leaving the Scene of an Accident and other vehicle and traffic law violations. Karen Parrinello, age 51, was arrested for Unlawfully Dealing with a Child in the First Degree and Reckless Endangerment, for allegedly serving alcohol at her residence to persons under the age of 21.
Both Liberatore and Parrinello were ordered to appear in the village of Millbrook Court to answer to those criminal charges. Melissa Knapp, Dutchess County District Attorney for the town of Washington and the village of Millbrook, was unavailable for comment at press time.
