Long Islanders are rushing to the support of a Sachem schoolteacher and coach who’s recovering from a spinal cord injury after a road rage incident in West Babylon Saturday night.
Over $60,000 has been raised through online efforts, and a fundraising event has been scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 2, starting at 1 p.m. at Village Idiot Pub in Lake Grove.
John Aebly suffered a crushed spinal cord “and has no feelings or movement in his legs.”
He had emergency surgery on Sunday.
So reads a gofundme.com fundraiser being widely circulated to help Aebly and his family in his recovery.
“Recovery is going to be a long painful process. There are many things that they will need to do, including make their house wheelchair accessible. We are creating this gofundme account to help John and Jenn and his long term care.
“Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers,” the fundraiser by Michael Ragona reads.
According to Sachem Report, Aebly was a three-sport athlete in Sachem, from which he graduated high school in 1992. He was also a longtime Sachem wrestling coach who was inducted into the Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.
What happened
According to Suffolk County police, a roadway incident on Route 109 around 8 p.m. Saturday led to Aebly, 51, and another man spilling into a strip mall where they exited their vehicles and “engaged in an altercation.”
The other man, later identified as Patrick Loughlin, 37, of Babylon, allegedly got back into his vehicle after the altercation and rammed Aebly’s car three times — then ran Aebly over before fleeing the scene.
Loughlin was later arrested and pleaded not guilty to assault charges in First District Court in Central Islip where bail was set at $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond, according to reports.
“All of the facts will come out,” Loughlin’s attorney, Robert Schalk, told reporter Carolyn Gusoff of CBS News New York. “And there are more witnesses and more facts that I think mitigate this case as it pertains to my client.”
The altercation occurred near a Gino’s Pizzeria.
“We saw somebody keeled over on the ground,” Daniel Pucci, a Gino’s employee, told CBS. ” … He was pretty bloody in the face.”
John Sarno, who’s organizing the Nov. 2 fundraiser at his bar and restaurant in Lake Grove, said he learned of the sad news from a mutual friend, Kim Ehrich, who’s close with Aebly’s wife, Jenn.
Sarno, who shared circles with Aebly growing up in the Sachem area, then said he wanted to help.
“He was always a nice guy who was into physical fitness,” he said. “He was handsome and resembled a super hero. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, but he is very liked and regarded.”
— John Aebly photos from Sachem Report
