Drunken driver crashes into Mount Sinai senior center, police say

A Pennsylvania man who crashed his car into a closed senior center in Mount Sinai early Tuesday was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

Bruce Brant, 25, was driving a 2012 Mazda3 north about 12:25 a.m. on Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road, where it ends at Route 25A, but he failed to stop the car and drove into the Rose Caracappa Senior Center, Suffolk County police said in a news release.

“The vehicle came to a stop inside the building,” police said.

No one other than Brant was injured in the single-car crash, police said. Mount Sinai firefighters used a heavy rescue vehicle and other specialized equipment to carry out technical rescues, to remove him from the wreckage

Police did not say how fast Brant was driving or the extent of his alleged intoxication at the time.

The senior center, which is run by Brookhaven Town, opened for business as usual at 9 a.m. and there were no disruptions in the normal daytime services, according to a town official.

A crew from the town’s parks department worked overnight to install a temporary door to the entryway and secure the door with plywood, the official said. There appeared to be no structural damage to the building.

It looked like Brant crashed his car through flagpoles on an island bed in front of the center on his way to the front door the official said. There were tire tracks on the dirt and two of the three flagpoles were knocked over.

Brant was taken to Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. No arraignment had been immediately set.