Long Island Family Displaced for Months After Drunk Driver Crashes Into Home

Home Destruction and Displacement

• 🚗 A drunk driver crashed an SUV through the front of a West Babylon home, just before Thanksgiving, destroying the kitchen.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The father of three, Mike Reo, narrowly avoided tragedy as his three sons were asleep and his wife was out.
• 🏠 The family has been living in hotels and a rental paid for by insurance for eight months while awaiting approval for reconstruction plans.

Bureaucratic Delays in Reconstruction

• 📝 The family submitted reconstruction plans in April but faced rejections due to a variance issue and a proposed four-foot kitchen extension.
• ⏳ Reo claims the town's sympathy faded, and the process has been unusually slow, with a town official citing a backlog of applications.
• 🏢 The town of Babylon stated that the kitchen additions, not a backlog, were the primary cause of the delay.

Legal and Neighborly Aftermath

• ⚖️ The driver responsible for the crash was arrested for DWI and has since sold his home and moved away.
• 🚧 The Reo family is still in limbo, awaiting final building approvals despite their plans eventually being approved by zoning.