Four family members killed in an East Massapequa crash earlier this month were remembered Sunday in Brooklyn by mourners who heard stories about what made each life so special.
Patrice Huntley, 60, of Flushing, his children Jeremiah, 10, and Hannah, 13, and his 6-year-old granddaughter, Chantel Solomon, lay in open coffins at Harmony Funeral Home on Clarendon Avenue while mourners first quietly streamed in to pay their respects.
Photos of the family flashed across two screens and many of those gathered hugged and wiped away tears while others appeared in shock.
Tasheba Huntley-Hamilton, who lost her children, Jeremiah and Hannah, and her step-granddaughter, Chantel, also struggled to avoid breaking down.
“I just saw too much and I’m on overload. I’m in shock,” Huntley-Hamilton said.
She had rallied around the youngest victim, Chantel, who had initially survived the collision and was hospitalized, only to die less than a week later.
“This is just terrible,” said Jahmeel Ibraheem, Tasheba Huntley-Hamilton’s uncle. “All of them gone like this.”
The family had been out to get ice cream Aug. 6 and were stopped at a red light on Sunrise Highway in East Massapequa when, authorities said, a driver allegedly impaired by drugs, Michael Deangelo, smashed into the back of their SUV. Police previously said a video recorder showed Deangelo, of Lindenhurst, was traveling at speeds up to 120 mph.
The nondenominational service Sunday included Scripture readings, music, and traditional African drumming.
Bishop Gerald Seabrooks, senior pastor at Rehoboth Cathedral in Brooklyn, tried to comfort the grieving family while acknowledging their pain is incomprehensible.
“This is a tragedy that is unexplainable but we do realize that every good and perfect gift comes from above. Therefore, we know that your hand was not in this,” Seabrooks said.
“My prayer is that you can work it out for this family’s good … give them tranquility,” he…
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