text: The four young women killed Saturday when an alleged drunken driver plowed his pickup truck into the limousine they had hired for a celebratory day in the North Fork wine country all called the town of Smithtown home. 
   
   The limo passengers were "a group of women out celebrating an upcoming event," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Miller said Sunday. "There was a bride" and she survived the wreck, Miller said. Friends and family of some of the women said the gathering was not a wedding celebration. Officials with the limousine company said the car was hired for a birthday. 
   
   Miller spoke after the arraignment of pickup truck driver Steven Romeo, 55, of Southold at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, where he was admitted after the wreck. Romeo was charged with DWI, a misdemeanor, but ordered held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond. He pleaded not guilty Sunday. 
   
   Miller said charges likely would be upgraded. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley are scheduled to hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Southhold Town Police Department with updates about the investigation. 
   
   Romeo, co-owner of Romeo Dimon Marine Service in Southold, is scheduled to appear in Southold Town Court on Friday. Miller did not disclose his blood-alcohol level or where he was before the crash. 
   
   Family and friends on Sunday described the four women killed as vibrant and accomplished. 
   
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   Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack was a "die-hard" Boston Red Sox fan. Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park had studied business at Farmingdale State College. 
   
   Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown, was "unafraid to be the only one on the dance floor." Brittney Schulman, 23, of Smithtown graduated from SUNY Cortland last year and wanted to work in public relations in the fashion industry. 
   
   Police identified their four friends who survived the crash as Joelle M. Dimonte, 25, of Elwood; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn, and Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale. 
   
   The limo picked up the women at Baruch's home, her father said Sunday. Some of their cars remained at the home, Steven Baruch said. 
   
   Witnesses on Saturday said Romeo was seen sitting in the back of the pickup right after the wreck, but police said he ran from the crash scene. 
   
   Romeo's attorney, Dan O'Brien, offered condolences to the victims and said his client did not leave the scene of the wreck. Miller did not address whether Romeo had fled. "It's a tough situation," said O'Brien, who is based in Nesconset. 
   
   Neither Romeo, who remained hospitalized, nor his business partner Kris Dimon could be reached for comment. Their marine services business was closed Sunday, and the answering system message was changed midday to remove Romeo's cellphone number. 
   
   This map shows where a pickup truck plowed into a limo in Cutchogue on Saturday, July 18, 2015, leaving four women dead. This map shows where a pickup truck plowed into a limo in Cutchogue on Saturday, July 18, 2015, leaving four women dead. 
   
   Also injured in the crash was limo driver Carlos Pino, 58, of Bethpage, who works for Ultimate Class Limousine in Hicksville. Pino has not been charged with any crime. 
   
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   In a statement, company officials called the crash "a tragic accident on what should have been a happy day for a group of young women. We pray for the victims and for the families as they go though this unimaginable time." 
   
   "We are in direct contact with all authorities and we are providing all information that they have requested for their investigation," Ultimate Class Limousine officials said in the statement. 
   
   One of the last stops the limo took the women to was Vineyard 48, located on the south side of Route 48, just west of Depot Lane. The limo was trying to make a U-turn on Depot when Romeo's pickup broadsided its right side, officials said. 
   
   Dimonte had surgery at Peconic Bay Medical Center Sunday and is in stable condition, according to Samantha Vigliotta, vice president of the center's foundation and external affairs. Arundel and Lipets were in fair condition at Stony Brook University Hospital Sunday night, according to spokesman Greg Filiano. 
   
   Lipets' grandmother in Brooklyn, Lyubov Drurer, said Lipets was in surgery at Stony Brook Sunday. Lipets' mother, father, uncle, aunt, and boyfriend were by her side, Drurer said. 
   
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   The crash was the second multifatal wreck on Long Island in a week. Three members of a Queens family -- the father and two young children -- died July 12 when their car was rear-ended by an alleged drunken driver on the Southern State Parkway at the exit for Robert Moses Causeway. 
   
   The Cutchogue intersection where the limousine crash occurred has long been a worry to residents because of the convergence of vineyard-bound limousines making U-turns amid oncoming traffic on the rural road. It was not known if the limo cut in front of the truck, Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said Saturday night. 
   
   "He [the pickup truck driver] hit the brakes right before and he broadsided the limo right on the passenger side," he said. 
   
   Flower bouquets had been placed in the roadway median at the crash site Sunday. 
   
   William Rule, 64, was among those dropping off bouquets. He had picked lilies from his garden in Riverhead, he said. 
   
   He said he did not know the victims but felt the tragedy was "so horrific" he needed to contribute to the growing memorial. 
   
   "This traditionally had been a quiet area, not very busy," he said of the North Fork's vineyard region, but noted it has become "built up and more of an attraction." ||||| They were all 23 and 24 years old, their whole lives seemingly ahead of them. 
   
   They were visiting the North Fork to celebrate a major event in one of their friend’s lives. 
   
   Then, as the driver of the limousine they had booked to help keep them safe during a trip to local wineries attempted to make a U-turn on Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, the lives of the four friends came to a tragic end Saturday. 
   
   Steve Romeo, 55, of Southold was charged with driving while intoxicated after his pickup truck allegedly t-boned the limousine while traveling west along County Road 48 shortly after 5 p.m. 
   
   The crash took the lives of Brittney Schulman, 23, of Smithtown; Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park; and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack. 
   
   Three of the victims died at the scene and the fourth died at Peconic Bay Medical Center, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said. 
   
   Injured but surviving the crash were four additional passengers: Joelle Dimonti, 25, of Elwood; Melissa Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, N.Y.; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn. The limousine driver, 58-year-old Carlos Pino of Bethpage, was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a Suffolk County hospital. 
   
   The limo had just left Vineyard 48 and was heading east before Mr. Pino attempted the ill-fated turn. 
   
   Fire crews from Cutchogue, Mattituck, East Marion, Greenport, Southold and Jamesport all responded to the scene. Two Suffolk County police helicopters assisted in the rescue, landing directly on Route 48, which remained closed in both directions for several hours. The road was open again by 11:40 p.m. 
   
   The crash scene was devastating to those with the misfortune to drive past it Saturday. 
   
   “As we came around, all we saw were bodies out the left side of the vehicle, hanging out,” said Lynne Lulfs, a Hampton Bays woman who witnessed the crash. “It was surreal; it did not look real.” 
   
   Witnessing the tragedy hit home for Ms. Lulfs, who said her father died in a car accident when she was young. 
   
   “This will resonate with us forever,” she said. 
   
   People who live near the intersection said it’s a frequent spot for crashes. Ruth Urwand, who lives on Depot Lane, said she believes a regular stoplight should replace the blinking light that’s currently there. 
   
   Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Miller said additional charges are expected in the case, as Mr. Romeo is currently facing just one misdemeanor drunk driving charge. 
   
   “At this time we are continuing the investigation and looking at upgrading the charges significantly,” she said, adding that Mr. Romeo is due in Southold Town Justice Court Friday. 
   
   When asked about the emotional state of his client, defense attorney Dan O’Brien of Nesconset said “It’s a tough, tough situation.” He declined to say where Mr. Romeo was headed at the time of the crash. 
   
   Ms. Miller said one of the women was “a bride” and that the friends were celebrating “an upcoming event.” 
   
   “I don’t believe it was a bridal party, but they were celebrating,” she said in reference to reports that the women were visiting the North Fork for a bachelorette party. 
   
   News of the fatal crash led friends and family of the victims to post memories of them on social media. 
   
   An anguished man who answered the phone at Ms. Baruch’s house Sunday afternoon declined to comment, saying only that he couldn’t talk. 
   
   “I’m sorry,” he said. 
   
   One Commack woman, who asked to be identified only as the mother of one of Ms. Grabina’s friends, said “She was such a vibrant girl.” 
   
   “She tried everything,” the woman said. “She was young — a young girl. I can’t even imagine what her parents are going through right now.” 
   
   According to her Facebook profile, Ms. Grabina graduated from Florida State University in 2014 and had been hired less than a month ago as a staff accountant at New York City firm Ernst & Young. 
   
   Mr. Romeo pleaded not guilty at his bedside arraignment at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, where he is being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Southold Town Justice Rudolph Bruer set bail at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond. 
   
   The Southold businessman was previously involved in a fatal accident in January 2014 at a construction site in Mattituck, where a 30-year-old worker was struck in the head and killed by a bucket that fell off of a skid-steer loader being operated by Mr. Romeo. He was not charged in that incident, but the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations and fined the business, in part because Mr. Romeo had not been trained to use the equipment he was operating. 
   
   A wrongful death suit filed by the worker’s family against Romeo Dimon Marine and the owner of the construction site is pending in New York State Supreme Court, online court records show. 
   
   A representative from Romeo Dimon Marine’s Southold office declined to comment on the fatal crash Sunday morning. 
   
   “It’s a private matter,” he told a Suffolk Times reporter, declining to identify himself. “It has nothing to do with business. I have no comment. Nothing to say to you.” 
   
   [email protected] 
   
   Top photo: The intersection of Depot Lane and Route 48 in Cutchogue where four women where killed when an alleged drunk driver plowed into the limo they were riding in on Saturday afternoon. (Credit: Vera Chinese) 
   
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target: – The truck driver who left a bride-to-be critically injured and killed four of her friends in a horrific car crash yesterday has pleaded not guilty to drunk driving. Steven Romeo, 55, made the plea today from a Long Island hospital bed where he's recovering from injuries sustained in the crash, the New York Times reports. His bail is set at $1 million bond or $500,000 cash. "Right now, we’re continuing the investigation and looking into upgrading the charges significantly," says assistant DA Elizabeth Miller, who adds that the limo driver won't be charged. Meanwhile, Romeo's lawyer denied media reports that Romeo was driving drunk or fled the scene, but said little else. Details are emerging about the accident, in which a bride-to-be and seven of her friends were riding in a limousine just after 5pm on Route 48 in Cutchogue, NY. "I don’t believe it was a bridal party, but they were celebrating," Miller tells the Suffolk Times. The limo was negotiating a U-turn at a crossroad that has two flashing yellow lights going west and east to caution drivers, Newsday reports. That's when Romeo's pickup slammed into the limo with such force that it tore almost totally through the vehicle. An eyewitness says Romeo sat there, bloodied and incoherent, holding a water bottle. Dead in the crash are Lauren Baruch, 24, Stephanie Belli, 23, Amy R. Grabina, 23, and Brittney Schulman, 23. A local boat repairman, Romeo was involved in another fatality last year when a bucket fell off a skid-steer loader he was operating at a construction site, killing a 30-year-old worker—but while citations and fines were issued, Romeo wasn't charged, partly because he hadn't been trained to operate the equipment.