Port Jefferson man arrested on drunken-driving charge, cops say

A Port Jefferson man was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning after his vehicle flipped over on an East Setauket roadway where it slammed into the front of an automotive repair shop and collapsed its canopy.

Peter Bradley, 55, was driving a 2010 Ford Explorer on Main Street, Route 25A, near the corner of Gnarled Hollow Road when the accident occurred about 12:45 a.m., Suffolk County police said. His sport utility vehicle became lodged under an awning at East Setauket Automotive after the crash.

Bradley was arrested and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, police said.

Mike Innusa, owner of the auto repair shop for the past 21 years, said the fire department called him at 2 a.m. to alert him to the accident, which “destroyed” the canopy as the vehicle “hit the canopy supports like knocking pins down.”

“It was out of the ordinary for sure to see the SUV upside-down and the canopy on top of it,” Innusa said. “Thank god he didn’t kill anybody.”

The building, erected in the 1920s, had the canopy stationed over gas pumps. The pumps are long gone, Innusa said, but he enjoyed the awning for its old-school look. He says he plans to replace it.

“We’ve had numerous accidents at this intersection, but nothing to this extent,” Innusa said. “Never anything into my building.”

The front doors to Innusa’s business were blocked from the collapse, but since the garage doors are on the side of the building, he was back in business Saturday morning.