Anthony Mariano (Benjamin Cardozo High School Instagram)
Dec. 1, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
An off-duty FDNY firefighter has been charged for drunk driving following a fatal road crash that killed a Queens public school teacher last month.
Joseph Norris, 38, was driving a pickup truck the wrong way along the Sunken Meadow State Parkway in Long Island on Nov. 20 at around 7:30 p.m. when he slammed into an SUV driven by Bayside teacher Anthony Mariano, according to New York State Police.
Norris’ 2008 Chevrolet Colorado was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes – north of exit SM3 – when it struck Mariano’s 2007 Mazda CX7 that was heading northbound, police said.
Norris, from Babylon, was transported to Southside Hospital where he remains in serious condition. He was charged Monday with driving while intoxicated, police said.
Mariano, 44, who taught social studies at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside for 17 years, was pronounced dead at the scene.
He resided in Kings Park and had planned to get married next summer, according to the New York Daily News.
New York State Police said that the incident is still under investigation.
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