Two killed in one-car crash in Shandaken

The destroyed Maserati. (State police photo)

Two off duty New York City police officers were killed Sunday when their sports car ran off the road in Shandaken. The crash occurred just hours after one of the men, Michael Colangelo, 31 of Huntington Station, was married at a nearby resort.

According to state police, on Sunday, May 20 Colangelo was behind the wheel of a rented 2018 Maserati with groomsman John M. Martinez, 39 in the front passenger seat and an unidentified 28 year old man in the rear. The trio had just left Colangelo’s wedding reception at the Full Moon resort on Valley View Road in Big Indian around. Witnesses at the reception initially told investigators that Martinez was driving but state police believe the two men switched places sometime after leaving the resort.

Around 11:23 p.m. police believe the sports car was traveling at a high rate of speed were on Oliveria Road in a 40 mile per hour zone when the vehicle ran off the road, struck a large tree and overturned coming to rest on its roof. Martinez and Colangelo were pronounced dead at the scene. Neither of the men was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. The second passenger in the vehicle was transported to Albany Medical Center by helicopter with non life-threatening injuries. Police radio logs obtained by Woodstock Times indicate that friends and family members of the victims began arriving at the crash site shortly after the accident as emergency personnel sought to call in a Medvac flight for the injured man.

According to the NYPD’s press office, the department was notified of the officers deaths shortly before midnight on Sunday. According to an email from the office, Colangelo was assigned to the department’s canine unit while Martinez served in the detective squad of Brooklyn’s 84th precinct.

As of Wednesday, state police officials said that they were still awaiting results of an accident reconstruction and toxicology tests