Mourners gathered today at the Wanamaker & Carlough Funeral Home in Suffern to pay tribute to one of the men who died in a wrong-way crash on the New York State Thruway in Rockland last week.
James DeVito Jr., of Airmont, died last Tuesday after NYPD Officer Richard Christopher drove his car the wrong way on the Thruway and collided head-on at high speed with the 59-year-old's SUV.
Both men died on impact.
DeVito was a chef at Newburgh's Mount St. Mary College and had recently become a widow, losing his wife to cancer about seven months ago. He leaves behind three adult children.
DeVito will be buried after a funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Suffern Tuesday morning.
Christopher's family says he was fatigued and overworked when the accident occurred.