Cops: Drunken driver slams into car, splitting it in Rockville Centre

A South Hempstead man was arrested and charged with a slew of crimes — including driving while intoxicated — after he smashed his luxury convertible into another car on Merrick Road on Friday night, causing the second car to split in half, police said.

Dustin B. Brandon, 27, was speeding in a 2016 Mercedes-Benz when it collided with a Mazda Miata near Oceanside Road in Rockville Centre at 9:06 p.m., Nassau County police said.

The impact demolished the Mazda and caused a rear tire to detach and strike the windshield of a tractor trailer in a nearby parking lot, police said.

The Mercedes overturned and landed on the south side of Merrick Road, just east of Oceanside Road, coming to rest against a utility pole, police said.

Emergency responders from the Rockville Centre police and fire departments extricated Brandon and his passenger, a 25-year-old woman, from the car.

Brandon sustained nonlife-threatening injuries to his head and leg, and his passenger sustained a lower-leg injury, authorities said.

The driver of the Mazda, whose name and age were not released, sustained internal injuries, authorities said. All three were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Brandon was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, two counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of assault and criminal mischief, police said. At arraignment Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead, his bail was set at $5,000 bond or $2,500 cash. He is due back in court Tuesday.