By JEANE MACINTOSH, C.J. SULLIVAN and LARRY CELONA
NEW YORK POST

January 2, 2007 -- A Brooklyn cop and his two adorable daughters died in a horrific car crash in New Jersey yesterday morning when their SUV careened out of control and hit a tree.

Louicasse Pierre, 39, an NYPD housing division officer, was driving his daughter, Arabellah Cassidy, 4, back to her mother’s home in Allentown, with his other daughter, Ashley, 9, when he lost control of his 1998 Toyota 4Runner on Interstate 78.

“My God, help! All three died? They all died!” wailed sister Louizie Jacques, 44, throwing herself into the arms of a relative seconds after receiving confirmation that the accident was fatal.

“I love my brother. Why? Why?”

“Life is terrible,” said Henry Jean, a brother-in-law.

“He didn’t have to go like that. This is too much. Too much for the family.”

All that remained in the mangled car was a blood-covered Toys ‘R’ Us bag in the back seat.

Pierre joined the NYPD in 2003 and worked in the Coney Island projects, a police source said. His younger brother, DuQuai, is also a cop, assigned to Brooklyn’s 69th Precinct.

“He was very proud to be a police officer,” said Jean of Pierre. “He loved his job.”

Pierre, a Haitian native, came to New York 16 years ago and lived in Crown Heights with a new wife and a son, 6 months old. Relatives said he was a great dad and family man.

“He was a happy-go-lucky guy, full of life, full of fun,” said Jean, who last saw Pierre on Sunday night, as he prepared to take Arabella home in time for the first day of school after the holidays.

“He was a good father and a good human being.”

Pierre “always put his kids first and made sure they had everything,” said a cousin, Marie Jean. “He was very proud of his children.”

Pierre’s mother, Domicilia Jacques, sobbed quietly at her family’s home in East Flatbush.

“I loved him very much,” she said. “He was very special to me.”

A steady stream of relatives poured into the home yesterday to comfort shocked and horrified loved ones.

“This is a terrible way to begin the new year,” said Henry Jean. “The family is in pain, so much pain.”

Police are looking for witnesses to the accident, which occurred just a few feet past a tricky merge with Interstate 287 in Bedminster Township.

One theory is that Pierre swerved to avoid another vehicle merging onto I-78, lost control and went into the stand of trees along the roadside.

“This was a tragic accident and it touched multiple families,” New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeanne Hengenuhle said.

“It was rainy and wet, but we’re looking at all possible causes.”

She said the SUV traveled about 200 feet off the road before slamming into the tree head-on.

Police would not say whether the victims were wearing seatbelts. The front airbag deployed.

A driver who saw the wreckage just before 8 a.m. called 911.

Pierre and Ashley were pronounced dead at the scene.

Arabella died just past noon in Morristown Hospital, police said.

Police are asking anyone who saw the crash to call (908) 725-0107.

jeane.macintosh@nypost.com