A 10-year-old boy died Sunday on the way to his own birthday party in a horrific Long Island Expressway crash that also killed his father and three others.

One of the victims of the three-car wreck was Scott Martella, a 29-year-old former aide to Gov. Cuomo who was set to marry his high school sweetheart.

Young Christopher Pinales turned 10 last week and was on his way to the Splish Splash water park in Calverton, L.I., to celebrate, when his father, Carmelo, lost control of his Subaru Outback as he drove east on the highway by Exit 68 in Manorville shortly after 9:30 a.m.

Police are looking into whether Pinales was speeding before the Subaru crossed a grassy median and went airborne, slamming into a Honda and a BMW going in the opposite direction.

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Pinales, 26, and his sister, Patricia, 27, died at the scene, as did Martella, who was driving the Honda.

On Monday, Gov. Cuomo said he spoke with Martella's parents, Stacy and Steve, the previous day.

"It is one of the great, great tragedies and there are no words for it," Cuomo said outside an AFL-CIO union event in Manhattan. "When I spoke to his parents, literally there are no words. I said, 'I believe it all happens for a reason. I believe in God. I believe it's in God's hands.' That is the best explanation."

Cuomo said Martella, who was driving with his fiancé on the Long Island Expressway when he was killed, "did absolutely nothing wrong" to cause the accident.

"He worked for me for a number of years," Cuomo said. "This was a really, really beautiful, beautiful young man. He just loved public service. He loved helping people."

The day of the accident, a helicopter airlifted little Christopher to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition, but he could not be saved, authorities said. A passenger in the BMW, Isidore Adelson, 81, died at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. His wife, Helen, remained in critical condition at Southside.

Patricia Pinales' 3-year-old daughter, Analia, was also injured but survived the crash.

Carmelo Pinales' older brother, Jose Miguel Perez, 27, said he was riding in another car, also headed to the water park, when he came upon the carnage.

"The cars were already flipped over going into the other lane," Perez said. Carmelo and Patricia were already covered by sheets when he arrived.

Carmelo Pinales' girlfriend, Ivonne Luque, was in a car just ahead of the Outback when the tragedy occurred.

She later shared her heartbreak on Facebook, writing in Spanish, "Nobody will replace the love I had for you. You were a father, son, good friend to many people who admired you for your great goodness. You went a thousand times with nothing to eat for to help those who needed it more."

Carmelo had recently moved with his family into a house in Westbury and had taken on four jobs to pay the rent, said his cousin, Chris Pinales.

"He worked with me at (the) Garden City Hotel and Shake Shack. He also worked cleaning private jets, and he would work for this company in Freeport where they fix rims for cars," his cousin said.

Said Perez, "He was the first one to get food and the last one to eat."

Carmelo brought his son to America from the Dominican Republic last year, his family said.

"He was really energetic and outgoing," Chris Pinales said. "Carmelo's son was the light of the house."

He said Patricia Pinales "was very outgoing. She loved her daughter. Her daughter was everything for her. She would dress her daughter just like her."

Martella, the Honda's driver, was traveling with his fiancée, Shelbi Thurau, 29. She suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. In June , Martella started a new job as communications director for Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone.

In a Facebook post last September, Thurau could barely contain her joy over spending her life with Martella.

"Sometimes 14 year old girls are silly. But sometimes they know just how their happily ever after is going to turn out," she wrote. "Scott Martella and I met in the Smithtown High school auditorium and tonight that's where we got engaged! I've never loved anyone more and I am so lucky I get to spend the rest of my life smiling alongside him??"

Martella worked as Cuomo's Suffolk County representative and later as the state Labor Department commissioner's Long Island regional rep.

Bellone said he was fortunate to have Martella on his team.

"Scott dedicated his all-too-brief life to public service and to helping others. He is known across Long Island as a leader and a great man," Bellone said Sunday.

"I asked Scott to join my team because I admired his intelligence, his wisdom and love of community and people. I will miss Scott's smile, his advice, his laugh, his sense of humor, his dedication and his drive."

Martella's death comes almost a year after the Sept. 7 shooting death of Carey Gabay, 43, a Cuomo administration lawyer who was tragically caught in gang crossfire during a pre-dawn J'Ouvert celebration in Brooklyn.