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Driver pinned by truck in Melville road-rage incident

BY JOSEPH MALLIA | joseph.mallia@newsday.com

12:47 PM EDT, July 25, 2008

A road rage incident left a Hicksville man hospitalized with a crushed pelvis after he was pinned against his car by a Postal Service tractor-trailer on a Long Island Expressway ramp Thursday night, Suffolk police said.

Second Squad detectives are investigating the 8:35 p.m. incident at the LIE's westbound entrance ramp at Exit 49 in Melville.

Robert Maduro Jr., 40, of 17th Street, West Babylon, was driving a 1998 Freightliner tractor-trailer on the ramp when he became involved in an argument with the driver of a 2005 Nissan, police said.

The driver of the Nissan Altima, Celvin Diaz, 40, of Hicksville, later told the police that Maduro had been tailgating him, and Diaz and Maduro both got out of their vehicles and began to argue. Maduro is a subcontractor driving for the Postal Service, which owns the truck.

Maduro wanted to leave the ramp and proceed onto the expressway but the Nissan was still blocking the ramp, police said.

The trucker then drove onto the grass, around Diaz's car, the police said. As he passed Diaz, the back of the tractor trailer then hit the motorist and crushed him against his car, police said. He was taken by Melville Fire Department Rescue to Nassau University Medical Center and treated for a fractured pelvis, police said.

Maduro drove away onto the LIE headed west and he was stopped by Nassau County Highway Patrol officers near Exit 34.

Suffolk County Police Motor Safety Carrier Unit responded and examined the tractor trailer, and Maduro was issued a summons for driving too many hours without a sufficient break.