Woman hurt when car crashes on Long Island Expressway, catches fire

A vehicle traveling westbound on the Long Island Expressway on Monday struck a median barrier, overturned and exploded into flames, leaving the driver critically injured, Suffolk County police said.

The single-car crash occurred shortly after noon about a half-mile west of the Nicolls Road exit in Holtsville, according to detectives from the Sixth Squad.

Multiple Good Samaritans flipped the sport utility vehicle, a 2002 Jeep Liberty, right-side up and extracted the driver, Susan Denise, 56, of Farmingville, who was getting burned as the vehicle was engulfed by flames, police said.

The Good Samaritans pulled Denise to the right shoulder of the Expressway and administered first aid on the scene, police said.

Denise was taken by Suffolk police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition, authorities said.

The crash forced the temporary closure of all westbound LIE lanes at Exit 62, police said. The road has since fully reopened.

Photos from the scene show the remnants of a vehicle in flames, with billows of black smoke extending in all directions.

Robert Goldberg of Florida, who was on Long Island visiting family, said Monday he saw the car explode about 300 yards in front of him. 

As he drove closer to the scene, Goldberg said he witnessed passersby pull the driver from the vehicle.

"I was so close to the scene that the flames started to burn my face," Goldberg said of the fire.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The vehicle was impounded for a safety check.

Efforts to reach Denise’s family members Monday night were not successful.

With James Carbone

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.