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Dec. 4-10, 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
Vol. 29 No. 49 28 total pages
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.
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