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Dec. 4-Dec. 10, 2020
Bayside high school teacher killed in
two-vehicle collision on Long Island
HELPING THOSE IN NEED BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Commonpoint Queens and Ponce Bank prepared and packaged 200 Thanksgiving dishes for Queens residents in need this holiday
season. See story on Page 2. Photo courtesy of Commonpoint Queens
A beloved Bayside high
school teacher was killed in a
two-vehicle collision on Friday,
Nov. 20, when a wrongway
driver hit his car on the
Sunken Meadow Parkway on
Long Island, according to authorities.
Anthony Mariano, 44, was
driving a 2007 Mazda CX7 SUV,
when an off-duty firefighter,
Joseph Norris, 38, drove his
pickup truck the wrong way
down the parkway, north of
exit SM3, in Smithtown, Suffolk
County, slamming into
Mariano’s vehicle at about 7:30
p.m., according to law enforcement
sources.
First responders had found
Mariano dead at the scene
of the accident, according to
state police. Norris, a Babylon
resident, was transported to
Southside Hospital with serious
injuries. An FDNY spokesperson
told QNS that Norris is
still hospitalized.
Norris was driving his 2008
Chevrolet Colorado pickup
truck southbound in the northbound
lane when it struck the
SUV, state police said.
The Sunken Meadow State
Parkway was closed northbound
and traffic was diverted
at exit SM3.
No charges have been filed
as the cause of the collision is
under investigation. The state
police is asking for anyone
with information to call 631-
756-3300.
Mariano, a resident of
Kings Park, was a social studies
teacher for 17 years at Benjamin
Cardozo High School in
Bayside, according to the New
York Daily News. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Mariano’s
wedding to his girlfriend
of 10 years, Azzolini, was
scheduled for next summer.
According to Azzolini,
Mariano was always a cautious
driver on the road.
“Anthony was my future
... and getting on the highway
the wrong way, that should not
have happened. That should not
have happened,” Azzolini said.
Matthew Mariano told
the NY Daily News that his
brother instilled knowledge in
his students, allowing them to
become the people they needed
to be.
“That’s how he led his life.
It wasn’t about him,” Mariano
told the NY Daily News.
In the wake of his death,
Mariano’s family is requesting
that friends and relatives give
money to two local charities he
cared about: an animal shelter
and a sports program for underserved
youth
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
Vol. 86 No. 49 28 total pages
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