Deer Park nail salon crash: Survivor testifies she sensed something 'big and fast' was coming before impact

It was a busy day at Hawaii Nail & Spa in Deer Park, and the staff was struggling to keep up with the crush of people who had come in for pedicures and manicures. Wen Jun "Joey" Cheng was focused on the pedicure she was giving a customer when she sensed something large coming at her fast.

When Cheng regained consciousness, she testified on Tuesday in Riverhead, she was on the floor, unable to get up, struggling to breathe. Dust choked the air, and fragments of glass and other debris carpeted the ground.

"There was chaos all over," Cheng said through a Mandarin interpreter at the trial of Steven Schwally, the alleged drunk driver who Suffolk prosecutors said crashed his SUV into the Grand Boulevard shop at a high rate of speed on June 28, 2024, killing four people — including Cheng’s husband, nail salon co-owner Jian Chai Chen, 37, also known as Kenny.

It was a day she will never forget, the Bayside, Queens, resident told Vehicular Crimes Bureau Chief Carl Borelli.

"I could sense something was approaching me," Cheng said. "I wasn’t able to respond fast enough. It was big and fast."

Prosecutors said Schwally, 66, had a blood alcohol content of 0.17% — more than twice the legal limit in New York State of 0.08% — and was driving 78 mph when his 2020 Chevrolet Traverse crossed the street from a neighboring parking lot and crashed into the nail salon.

Schwally, charged with four counts of second-degree murder and other crimes, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has twice rejected Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro’s plea offer of 22 years to life in prison and faces up to 27½ years to life if convicted by the jury.

Schwally did not appear in court Tuesday due to a heart condition. Ambro told the jury that the defendant had waived his right to be present and was not expected to return to the trial, which is expected to continue into next month.

In his opening statement on May 11, defense attorney Christopher Cassar told the jury that Schwally had a leg disability that prevented him from moving his foot off the gas pedal. Video evidence presented by Suffolk prosecutors last week contradicted Cassar’s arguments. 

Salon employees Yan Xu, 41, and Mei Zi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing, Queens, and off-duty NYPD officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park, were also killed in the crash. Nine people were injured, including Cheng.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Suffolk County police officer who arrested Schwally testified that the defendant told emergency medical personnel treating him at Good Samaritan University Hospital that he was injured in a fall — even though Schwally had rocketed through the salon less than two hours earlier.

Schwally expressed surprise that a police officer was standing near his hospital bed, Officer Dennis Sheehan testified. "I haven’t broken any laws," Schwally told the officer not long after his Traverse barreled through the crowded shop.

Schwally told the hospital staff that he had not been drinking before the crash, but Sheehan said the defendant’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his speech was slurred and his breath reeked of liquor.

"I was able to smell the odor of a very strong alcoholic beverage," Sheehan told the jury.

Prosecutor Alexander Bopp played a video recorded from Sheehan’s body-worn camera that showed the defendant laughing and joking after he learned the police officer, like Schwally, had served in the Marines Corps. Sheehan testified that Schwally never expressed concern for anyone else after the crash, which he said left the salon looking like it had been torn apart by a bomb.

Another witness testified earlier this month that Cheng was hospitalized for weeks and unable to walk without support even after she left the hospital. Cheng is expected to resume her testimony Wednesday morning.