A drunk driver struck a minivan on the Long Island Expressway before crossing the grassy median and hitting several other vehicles in a crash that killed one person, injured eight others and closed a stretch of the busy highway for hours, police and a hospital official said.
Some of the people hurt in the crash were rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, where their injuries ranged from non-life-threatening to critical, according to police, who said the person who was killed was pronounced dead at the hospital.
James Vosswinkel, a doctor at Stony Brook, said many of the victims appeared to be in shock. "They're not exactly sure what happened," he said.
The crash unfolded near Exit 68 in Shirley when a drunk driver in a pickup truck crashed into a minivan in the westbound lanes around 3:30 p.m., police said.
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After striking the minivan, the truck’s driver skidded through the grassy median and into the eastbound lanes, where he or she crashed into a motorcycle and another minivan.
A passenger in one of the two minivans was the person killed, according to police.
Video from the scene early in the evening shows a heavily damaged red minivan, a pickup truck with front-end damage and a wrecked motorcycle. In the video, debris scatters the roadway and there are tire tracks in the grassy median separating the east and westbound lanes.
The driver of the pickup truck was taken to an area hospital and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said. He or she has not been identified.
All lanes at Exit 68 were closed for about six hours before reopening around 9 p.m.
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Photo Credit: NBC New York
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