Farmingville racer’s need for speed killed two Levittown teens, DA says

Prosecutors say Frank Labidi spent $35,000 making his BMW faster.

He allegedly disabled the safety system designed to keep it from spinning out.

And then, the district attorney says, he got on West Old Country Road and hit 82 miles per hour.

A Nassau County grand jury indicted the 24-year-old Farmingville man on manslaughter charges after prosecutors said his need for speed and “reckless maneuvering” killed two 19-year-old passengers — Lindsey Rose Parke and Alexa Duryea, both of Levittown.

The teens died instantly late on Jan. 23 when Labidi’s souped up, high-performance car crossed into oncoming lanes and slammed into a tree and commercial building in Hicksville.

Labidi pleaded not guilty Thursday at his arraignment to two counts of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault. He left the courthouse in Mineola still free on bail after Nassau County Judge Robert Bogle set bail at $500,000 cash, $1.25 million bond, or $2.5 million partially secured bond.

Due back in court April 28, Labidi faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

Parke was a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Levittown Fire Department. Friends and family remembered her as someone who baked treats for the firehouse, neighbors, and a shelter for single mothers.

Duryea was remembered by loved ones as someone whose sudden loss left an unimaginable void; she had aspired to become a crime scene investigator.

“Their lives were taken away from them. Our families were given life sentences because we have to live without them for the rest of our lives,” Parke’s mother, Annette, said outside court.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Labidi was behind the wheel of his 2018 BMW M5 and headed west on W. Old Country Road about 11:30 p.m. when he lost control and crashed.

“Labidi treated a public roadway like a race track,” Donnelly said.

The two women were killed instantly, Donnelly said, when the passenger side of the vehicle struck the tree. The impact launched the car’s muffler through the window of a nearby orthopedic practice.

Labidi was treated at Nassau University Medical Center for minor injuries, authorities said.

The vehicle’s crash data recorder showed Labidi was traveling 82 mph with full acceleration and no braking in the three seconds before impact, Donnelly said. The posted speed limit on West Old Country Road is 40 mph.

Investigators also found that the stability control system — a safety feature designed to prevent skidding and correct drifts — had been manually disabled, allegedly by Labidi. Prosecutors noted that disabling the system is common among amateur street racers seeking to perform a racing maneuver known as drifting.

Donnelly said Labidi is a known racing enthusiast who raced the same BMW at a track in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. He pumped more than $35,000 into modifying the car’s engine and transmission to boost horsepower and acceleration, in the year and a half before the crash, prosecutors said.

“Two 19-year-old women are dead because this defendant allegedly chose to drive like he was on a racetrack instead of a public roadway,” Donnelly said. “Traveling more than 80 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour zone, with safety stability controls disabled, this defendant was at max acceleration when he spun out and slammed into a tree.

“Speeding and reckless maneuvering are not harmless thrills. They are deadly choices,” Donnelly continued. “And now, two families must grapple with the tragic and senseless loss of these young women. Our thoughts are with the Parke and Duryea families as we prosecute this defendant.”

_{Top: (left) Alexa Duryea (courtesy of GoFundMe); (center) Frank Labidi, via NCPD; and Lindsey Rose Parke (Facebook).}