Astoria Family Nearly Wiped Out In Highway Crash

Three of four members of an Astoria family were killed on the New Jersey Turnpike near Teaneck, some four miles from the George Washington Bridge, at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday, August 14. The Christmas family-father Charles, 40, mother Theresa Foti, 41, and daughter Victoria, three years old-all died when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer hauling a load of bricks was unable to stop when approaching slowed traffic and slammed into their Nissan Altima sedan. The couple's fouryear old daughter, also named Theresa, was airlifted to University Hospital of Newark in fair condition after the accident. Reports the following day listed her condition as upgraded to good. The children had been riding in safety seats, sources indicated.

The elder Theresa, according to reports, was a speech therapist at I.S. 227, the Louis Armstrong School, in East Elmhurst, and Charles Christmas was a former cook who elected to stay home to care for his children. The family had been vacationing at Ocean City, Maryland, and had decided to extend their stay over the weekend to enjoy good weather.

The accident happened when the 18wheeler flatbed truck, driven by Dimitrios Tseperkas, 46, of Port Jefferson, Long Island, neared a line of stalled traffic. Tseperkas allegedly slammed on the brakes, struck a median and veered out of control across the highway. The flatbed hit another truck, slammed into the Christmas family car and sheared the roof off a Toyota 4Runner SUV driven by Norma Ryan, 37, of Voorhees, New Jersey. Both cars were pushed into another tractor-trailer.

Ryan was killed; her two children, Peter, 12, and Samantha Ryan, one year old, and another passenger in the SUV, 64-year-old Maria Rosado of The Bronx, were taken to Hackensack University Hospital. All three sustained internal injuries; the two children were listed in good condition and Rosado was listed in critical condition.

New Jersey State Police Sergeant Stephen Jones was quoted at the scene as saying that charges might be filed against Tseperkas in the course of the investigation. The truck is registered to DTF Logistics at Tseperkas' address.--Linda J. Wilson