Bayside girl dies in tragic crash

Lorraine Neos, 18, would have attended her senior prom and graduated from St. Francis Preparatory (SFP) in June, but her life was cut short when the car she was riding in slammed into a tree.
Described by classmates as quiet and pretty, the SFP student from Bayside was the only one of four teenage passengers to be killed in a single-car crash on the Grand Central Parkway at 1 a.m. on Sunday, May 6.
“It’s really heartbreaking. She is a senior. Graduation and prom are coming up. To hear something like that happened to one of us, it’s just really tragic,” said classmate John Otano from Middle Village.
Classmates said that Neos’ father had died on Christmas Day a few years ago and that Neos was going to be her cousin’s Confirmation sponsor later this month.
“It’s just really sad,” said fellow senior Robert O’Neill of Kew Gardens, who was in the same homeroom class as Neos.
On Monday, May 7, the high school held a prayer service for Neos, and the school was distributing information about the wake and funeral Mass to classmates who wished to attend.
The three other passengers in the car, which first broke through a highway barrier nearby to Roosevelt Avenue and then struck a tree, were taken to New York Hospital Queens in Flushing, police said. Although the names of the other passengers have not been released, one of the teens was identified in published reports as 16-year-old Justin Saninocencio, who was treated for a punctured lung and liver.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing, police said.