Family of Nelson Gonzalez keeps vigil after he was critically injured by alleged DWI driver in Melville

A Brentwood family is keeping vigil, praying for good news, as family member Nelson Gonzalez, 63, remains in an induced coma at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, days after being critically injured in a car crash late Friday night in Melville.

"The doctors told us he has fractures of the neck and also of his spine and swelling of the brain," sister-in-law Nitsa Castro Gonzalez said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "They said they’re starting to ween him off the medication and they hope he’ll respond. We don’t know. We’re praying. We just have to take it one day at a time."

Suffolk County police said Gonzalez was driving his 2014 Toyota Tacoma south on Pinelawn Road and was attempting to make a left turn onto Express Drive South when his pickup was struck head-on by a 2025 Mazda CX-70 going north on Pinelawn around 10 p.m. Police said both drivers had a green light.

Police arrested the Mazda driver, identified as John Ankelman, 58, of Farmingdale, charging him with driving while intoxicated. Court records show Ankelman was arraigned on Saturday before Judge John J. Kelly, entering a plea of not guilty. He was released with non-monetary conditions and is due back in court on Feb. 13.

It was unclear if Ankelman is represented by counsel. No attorney information was listed on the online court records.

Reached at her home on Wednesday, Castro Gonzalez said her brother-in-law grew up in Brentwood with five brothers and a sister. She said one brother, David Gonzalez, died in a car crash in 1992.

She said the rest of the family — her husband, Louis  Gonzalez, his brothers Paul of Central Islip, John of Fort Lauderdale and sister Jeanie Davidson of Wyandanch — had all been together this week praying for a miracle.

"We didn’t even know what happened until Sunday," Castro Gonzalez said. "My father-in-law, Luis, said he hadn’t heard from Nelson and my daughter starting calling around to hospitals and we found they had a John Doe at Manhasset — and that’s how we found out. Apparently, he had no ID on him and they had no idea who he was. ... We’re a very close family and right now we’re just struggling with this."

Castro Gonzalez said her brother-in-law is not married and has an estranged son, living in Australia. She said Nelson Gonzalez was headed home from his work as a security guard in Melville when the crash occurred. She said he previously was a Suffolk County employee and that he also was in the Army — and, later, the Army National Guard for 18 years.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.