A Queens beautician slain when a drunk driver plowed his car through a Long Island nail salon and killed four people, including NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, spent the money she earned painting nails to support her family — including her sick mother and disabled son.
Now her tragic death has thrown their lives into chaos and despair, according to her close friend.
“Her husband is in a deep depression,” said Haiying Wang, whose friend Yan “Jenny” Xu, 41, was among the four killed and nine injured when 64-year-old Steven Schwally crashed his SUV through Hawaii Nail and Spa in Deer Park on June 27.
“He doesn’t know how to face his future. His brain is just blank. He cannot describe his own feelings. Just very sad,” Wang told the Daily News through an interpreter.
Xu and her husband, Ye Zhu, immigrated to the U.S. in 2012 from China following the birth of their son, Renjie Zhu, whose condition at birth was so poor that doctors suggested his parents give him up for dead, according to Wang.
“When he was born his condition was very bad,” Wang recounted. “The delivery doctor told Jenny, ‘You can give up the kid. He seems like he will die very soon.’ His condition was not normal.”
The new mother was able to nurse her son back from the brink, but the boy remained sickly, according to Wang. Doctors diagnosed him with cerebral palsy, a condition that forces him to walk with a cane and require special treatments and constant supervision.
“Their son really needed special care,” said Wang.
The pair struggled under the financial burden of raising a special needs child in New York City, and in 2018 Xu’s husband left with their son to live in Shanghai while she remained stateside to help support them with her nail salon earnings, Wang explained.
“They needed to support their son,” said Wang. “In Shanghai they have their own apartment and relatives to support them so he can drive … and have a flexible schedule to support his son.”
Xu also spent the money she made painting nails to help support her parents, including her mother, who lives in Shanghai and suffers from dementia, Wang said.
Her father, Peijian Xu, who lives in Queens, was counting on his daughter to sponsor his application for citizenship and her sudden death has left his immigration status in jeopardy, according to Wang.
“Right now no one can apply for him,” said Wang. “She was his only hope to help him to become legal.”
Peijian Xu was notified by a friend of his daughter’s that she was involved in the deadly crash and rushed to the scene to find her among the dead, according to Wang.
“He had tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Xu Yan is gone, Xu Yan is gone.’ He was so sad,” said Wang. “This thing happened and he said that he feels very hollow, or empty in his heart.”
The grieving father and Wang are observing a traditional funerary custom in honor of Xu, which will see them lighting candles and placing offerings of fruit outside the nail salon every Thursday for seven weeks, according to Wang, who is devastated by the loss of her friend.
“I could not see her body. I could not face it,” Wang said. “We used to celebrate every holiday together, eat together, laugh together. Sometimes I think it’s not real. It’s like a nightmare.”
Schwally — who allegedly downed 18 beers before smashing his 2020 Chevy Traverse through the Deer Park nail salon — was arraigned July 1 on a misdemeanor count of drunken driving for the horrific accident. Prosecutors said they intended to seek homicide charges before a grand jury.
Jiancai Chen, 30, who owns Hawaii Nail and Spa, and nail salon worker Meizi Zhang, 50, were also killed in the crash.
