From the article: "I was talking to one of the many men working with me when I saw what looked like a cheap firework rising from beyond the houses along the beach."
It doesn't say it arose from the shore, he says from his point of view, it arose from beyond the houses along the beach. A Bing Maps view of Beach Lane Bridge shows the bridge to be north of a small house-lined beach, separated by the main part of Long Island by a small inlet. If he was on the bridge, he was north of the houses, and a missile launched on the other side of the houses would have certainly been on the water.
Bing Maps view: http://www.bing.com/mapspreview?&cp=40.799705~-72.628933&lvl=16&style=h&v=2&sV=1&form=S00027
I've seen meteors rise from the horizon at dusk and they do appear to be fireworks until they do not slow and arc but appear to speed up as they approach and pass overhead.
Witness #1
A little before 8:30 p.m. that night, I surfaced to get some air. I was talking to one of the many men working with me when I saw what looked like a cheap firework rising from beyond the houses along the beach. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for a summer weekday so close to the 4th of July
I watched as the sparkling white light zigzagged southeast away from shore at about a 40-degree angle. At its peak, it arched over and disappeared.
Could this have been the nose of the plane after impact with a meteor or even the meteor itself?
Then I saw what appeared to be an explosion, it expanded into a large fireball, and then I watched the aircraft in flames descend from the fireball and fall to the sea, breaking up as it fell.
Could this have been the rest of the plane?
Understand, in no way am I discounting this witness's account. Merely trying to explain how a meteor strike could coincide with the account.