'Rot in Hell'

Relatives of Justin Diaz rail against the FDNY firefighter who killed the beloved 23-year-old in a horrific DWI crash.

Justin Diaz, 23, an aspiring airline mechanic, was killed when Michael Peña, an off-duty FDNY firefighter who was drunk, high on cocaine and driving 83 mph in East Elmhurst, ran a red light and smashed into his car.

Michael Peña was an off-duty FDNY firefighter — one of “New York’s Bravest — but a disgrace to the uniform.

Pena’s recklessness and careless disregard for life caused the death of Justin Diaz, 23, an aeronautics student and baggage handler on his way to work at LaGuardia airport.

After a night of heavy partying on Feb. 26, 2025, Peña left a Queens bar at about 4:15 a.m., intoxicated and high on cocaine, and took the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz. Speeding at 83 mph, he blew through a red light and slammed into Diaz’s BMW— the force of the collision so violent it left the young man with no chance of survival.

Peña walked out of his car, unharmed.

“I ran the light. I hit him. I’m a firefighter,” Peña told cops at the scene, a Queens prosecutor said at his arraignment last year.

Family members accused Peña of repeatedly trying to use the job as a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“You took an oath to save lives. You fundamentally negated everything that New York’s Bravest stands for and showed your cowardice instead,” Justin’s mother, Toni Ann Diaz told Peña at his sentencing Thursday.

“I hope that when this is over today that you rot in hell where you belong.”

Peña already had multiple prior arrests in Queens, Nassau County and New Jersey for offenses such as flashing a phony ID, and 25 speeding violations. the Queens District Attorney’s office revealed.

While a firefighter, Peña worked a side hustle as an OnlyFans model under the handle “I’m Mike LV,” posing shirtless and charging extra for private content.

Ex-FDNY firefighter Michael Peña moonlit as a model on OnlyFans under the handle “I’m Mike LV,” posting shirtless photos and “premium” private content. He’s going to prison for four to 12 years for manslaughter.

The judge slapped Peña with four to 12 years in prison. The maximum for manslaughter under New York State law is five to 15 years, but Peña received less under his plea bargain.

Besides his mother, Diaz’s father, sister and brother gave victim impact statements denouncing the reckless acts that ended his life.

Supreme Court Judge Michael Hartofilis called Justin “every parent’s dream.”

He then turned to Pena. “You are every parent’s nightmare,” the judge said.

Diaz’s relatives walked out when Pena briefly addressed the court, apologizing to the family.

Shortly before his death, Diaz had finished courses in aeronautics from Vaughn College in Queens. He planned to work as an airline mechanic and earn a pilot’s license.

Justin Diaz, 23, worked as a baggage handler at LaGuardia airport. He had just earned an aeronautics degree and planned to become an airline mechanic.

“I saw my cousin two days earlier. As usual, he came to our home full of joy, laughter, and talk of his future,” his cousin Candice Giove wrote to the judge.

“He eagerly told me that his degree would arrive in our mailbox,” she recalled.

His diploma came in the mail as Giove prepared for Diaz’s wake.

She placed the document in his coffin.