STATEN ISLAND BROTHERS KILLED WHEN THEIR CAR SKIDDED OFF AN UPSTATE ROAD AND SANK IN A POND
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
Two Staten Island brothers -- one a Marine -- were killed in a horrific crash in the Catskills shortly after they shared a meal with their family, sources and relatives said.
Paul Campione III, 38, was driving his 2001 Subaru Forester along a winding road in Roxbury at around 10:30 p.m., on Thursday January 6, 2011,with his brother, Christopher, 33, when the car careened off a cliff and landed in a pond where it sank, according to State Police.
The men, both married dads, had been building a cabin with their father and younger brother and had just shared a tragic last meal together in nearby Jewett.
"I just thank God my youngest son wasn't with them," said their devastated mother, Ingrid.
After dinner, her youngest son, Eric, left with his dad, Paul Jr., in a separate car to stay at a motel.
Because the lodging didn't take pets, Paul III and Christopher went to drop off their dog at a friend's house where they were staying.
"They dropped off the dog and that's when it happened," Ingrid said.
Christopher and Paul III were pulled from the pond and taken to Magaretville Hospital where they died. It wasn't until a police officer knocked on a relative's door in Staten Island that the family got the news of the horrific crash.
The brothers were members of the plumbers union Local 1 and worked in the family plumbing, heating and air-conditioning business that has been a Staten Island staple for decades.
Christopher, who had a young son, was in the process of getting his plumber's license and served as a sergeant in the Marines. His mother said he was "Paulie's right-hand man."
Paul III had three daughters -- ages 6, 7, and 8.
Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the crash, but said that the car ran off the road and sank in a small pond below.
State Police Capt. James Barnes told The Associated Press that speed may have been a factor.
