The partner of the pregnant woman who along with her unborn child died after she was ripped out and hurled 40 feet in a drunken-driving crash on Sunday morning learned about their deaths only minutes before he was produced in court. Adem Nikeziq, 30, the partner of Adriana Sylmetaj, 23, appeared in court on Monday.
Nikeziq cried uncontrollably during his first court appearance after learning that his girlfriend, who was seven months pregnant, and his daughter had died after he crashed his Dodge Challenger at high speed in Satan Island. Sylmetaj was ejected from the car after it struck a utility pole on Sunday morning, resulting in the car splitting into three pieces.
Costly and Unforgivable Mistake
Nikeziq, Adriana's boyfriend, was seen crying inconsolably on learning that both his fiancé and child had died in the tragic crash. "No one told him that his fiancée and baby had passed," Nikeziq's lawyer, Mark Fonte, told The New York Post outside court.
"He found out minutes ago, just before he came out [into the courtroom]. When I told him, he broke down crying, sobbing. He was at first completely in disbelief."
Nikeziq, who was wheeled into court while donning a hospital gown, is accused of manslaughter, vehicular assault, criminally negligent murder, and drunken driving In the fatal collision.
Sylmetaj was in the passenger seat when the couple's speeding SUV struck a barrier and a utility pole early on Sunday morning around 5 am, according to the prosecution's case. Sylmetaj's sister is an NYPD officer.
"She was found at the intersection," Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Agostino told Judge Raja Rajeswari. "Her severed leg was found 20 feet past her body. Her unborn child, ripped from her body, was found 20 feet past her leg."
Nikeziq reportedly told police at the scene that another car cut him off before the tragic collision, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
"Not every horrific accident rises to the level of criminality," Fonte said.
Prosecutors asserted that Nikeziq was speeding and weaving through traffic on Hylan Boulevard around 4:45 am when he lost control and slammed into a barrier.
According to Agostino, Nikeziq had "a night of drinking" before the accident. The case will now be brought to a grand jury, according to the prosecution. The judge mandated that Nikeziq be held in lieu of a $700,000 bond or $400,000 cash bail.
He has a Thursday court date in Staten Island.
Horrific Experience
According to police, Sylmetaj and Nikeziq, originally from Albania, were driving south on Hylan Boulevard in New Dorp around 4.44 am, when Nikeziq lost control. According to authorities, the car struck a barrier wall before veering off the road and slamming into a wooden utility pole.
Sylmetaj was said to have been ejected from the car due to the impact of the crash, and she was declared dead at the scene.
Police noticed that Nikeziq, a resident of the borough, appeared to be intoxicated, following which he was taken to Staten Island University North Hospital, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Nikesiq and Sylmetaj of Great Kills were listed as expectant parents on a BuyBuy Baby registry. The page said the baby was due on April 12.
A crib, a baby lounger, and a variety of clothes are among the things offered.
Nikeziq was referred to as "a shame to the Albanian community" in a memorial to Sylmetaj that was put online. "He's going away for the rest of his life and that's still not good enough for that piece of s**t," one of the heartbroken relatives of Sylmetaj told the New York Post outside her home on Sunday.
"They couldn't save the baby," he said. "We're never going to be ok. None of us. We've experienced a terrible tragedy."
"I don't understand how the [utility] pole is still standing," Mario Basso, owner of H20 Auto Spa near the site of the crash told the outlet. "It was hit so hard."
Sylmetaj's family said she was one of four children, with a sister who is a cop in Brooklyn's 62nd Precinct. According to her Facebook page, Sylmetaj is originally from Brooklyn but attended the College of Staten Island up until last year after graduating from New Dorp High School in Staten Island.
According to her profile, she was employed at NYU Langone Health and Pleasant Plains Animal Hospital South.
