Stony Brook students hurt by drunken driver, campus cop says
Police respond to a crash at the intersection of South and Marburger drives on the Stony Brook University campus on Monday, Sept. 12, 2016. Three students sustained minor injuries after their car was struck by a drunken hit-and-run driver, a campus police officer said. Credit: Andrew Tetreault
Three students sustained minor injuries after their car was struck by a drunken hit-and-run driver late Monday at Stony Brook University, University Police Chief Robert J. Lenahan said.
Kevin Duponte, 23, of Palm Coast, Florida, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury after the crash, police said. He was arraigned Tuesday in First District Court in Central Islip.
Police said Duponte was driving a 2003 Dodge pickup truck when he crashed into a 2010 Toyota at the intersection of Marburger and South drives. After the crash, police said, Duponte fled, but was later spotted near Circle Road and Campus Drive.
A field sobriety test showed Duponte was intoxicated and he was arrested, Lenahan said.
The identities of the three commuter students injured in the crash were not released. Police said they were treated at Stony Brook University Hospital for undisclosed injuries.
Duponte is due back in court Sept. 20.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
