Meadowbrook Crash Kills Three Camp Counselors

Three young people are dead after a one-car crash on the southbound Meadowbrook Parkway in Roosevelt Thursday morning, State Police have confirmed.

Five people, all of Floral Park, were headed to work at a Town of Hempstead summer camp in Lido Beach in a 2010 Honda Civic when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree just south of the Southern State Parkway exit at 8:50 a.m., police said.

Sisters Jamie Malone, 22, and Paige Malone, 19, as well as Michael Mulhall, 22, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The car's driver, Justine Mulhall, 20, and one rear seat passenger, Kelly Murphy, 20, survived the crash and were treated for minor injuries at Nassau University Medical Center.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, although alcohol has been ruled out as a factor, police said.

Footage from a television chopper showed a mangled car in the woods along the side of the parkway Thursday morning.

The car was headed toward Camp Anchor, the Town of Hempstead's six-week summer day camp that serves children and adults with special needs, sources said. The first week of that camp began last week.

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray, in a statement from Lido Beach Thursday afternoon, said the town was "devastated" by the news of the crash.

"Our hearts go out to the families of these young people," Murray said. "At the same time, we pray for the recovery of the two surviving counselors and the families and friends of all of the victims of this tragedy.  The three counselors who were taken from us, along with the two young people who are now battling physical and emotional scars in the wake of the accident, were and continue to be the essence of Camp Anchor."

Grief counselors retained by the town are working alongside Nassau County Police Department counselors to assist campers and workers, Murray said. 

In a brief statement, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said: "Nassau County mourns the loss of these three young adults who helped serve our community. My thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of the victims."

North Merrick Fire Department Chief James Allen said that although the accident occurred within hundreds of feet from the fields at Brookside School in North Merrick, the crash was considered to be in Roosevelt since it happened on the southbound side of the Meadowbrook.