Driver who hit tractor trailer had suspended license, cops say
A Mercedes-Benz driver struck a tractor trailer on Old Dock Road in Yaphank on Tuesday morning, Aug. 22, 2017, Suffolk police said. Credit: LiHotShots / T.J. Lambui
A driver who hit a tractor trailer in Yaphank Tuesday shouldn’t have been behind the wheel because of his suspended license, Suffolk police said.
Brian Burwell, 56, of Yaphank, was in a Mercedes-Benz going south on Old Dock Road when he struck an 18-wheel truck near Todd Court about 11:40 a.m., police said.
He left the scene but was found a short time later and was taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. The truck driver was not injured, police said.
Burwell, of Mill Road, was cited for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and charged with fleeing the scene of an accident, police said.
But Yaphank Fire Chief Chris Austin said it did not appear the Mercedes driver had actually fled but was at a gas station before his department’s ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.
“The gas station was half a block away,” Austin said. “He went there to get a bottle of water, and he sat down to wait for the ambulance.”
Police said other details of the incident were not immediately available Tuesday night.
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Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
