"Night out" leaves husband critical, wife arrested for DWI
Mug shot of Sandra Bolando who was charged with Driving While Intoxicated, Leaving the Scene of an Accident with Serious Physical Injury and Vehicular Assault. Credit: Photo by PIO
In what a Suffolk detective called "a night out that got out of control," a West Babylon man jumped on the hood of his pickup truck to stop his intoxicated wife from driving early Saturday, then fell off and fractured his skull, police said.
Douglas Bolando, 39, of Maplewood Road, was in critical condition and on a respirator Saturday at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, police said.
Sandra Bolando, 38, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident with serious injuries, police said. She was awaiting arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip.
The couple had been out at a bar earlier in the night, police said, then had more drinks after returning to their home.
About 3:15 a.m., they argued because Sandra Bolando wanted to go out for more drinks but her husband wanted to stay home.
That's when Sandra Bolando got behind the wheel of her husband's 2003 Dodge pickup, and Douglas Bolando jumped on the hood.
"He didn't want her to drive," First Squad Det. Sgt. Kevin Naylor said. "He tried to stop her because he didn't think she was capable of driving."
Sandra Bolando continued on in the pickup, and when she turned onto Railroad Avenue, her husband slid off the hood, police said. He fell about 3 feet, and his head struck the road surface, they said.
A police sergeant responding to a radio broadcast about the incident stopped Sandra Bolando down the road from where her husband lay.
Douglas Bolando was treated by paramedics at the scene and spoke to police about what happened. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
"I guess he went downhill from there," Naylor said. "He had severe head trauma. The orbital bone fractured in several spots."
Douglas Bolando wasn't thrown from the truck because it was speeding, and he wasn't run over by it, police said.
The pickup was impounded for inspection.
"It was just a night out that got out of control," Naylor said.
