LI cops make 34 DWI arrests during New Year's celebrations
Countless celebrants rang in 2014 on Long Island and across the metropolitan area but crime and crashes didn't take a holiday on the first day of the new year.
In Suffolk, 16 people were arrested and charged with drunken driving between 4 p.m. New Year's Eve and 8 a.m. New Year's Day, officials said. In Nassau, 18 people were arrested and charged with DWI between 9 p.m. New Year's Eve and 9 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.
In Southold, Cristina Maria Madison, 21, was intoxicated and texting when she crashed a car into trees and mailboxes early yesterday, police said.
Madison, 21, of Southold, was arrested and expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Southold Town Justice Court on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, the Southold Town Police Department said.
She was driving south on Main Bayview Road about 12:56 a.m. when her 2004 Volvo went off the road "due to the fact [she] was 'texting' while she was driving," the police statement said.
The Volvo struck four mailboxes and two large trees before it came to a stop, police said.
Police said Madison was treated at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport and released to police custody.
At about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, an eastbound car on the Long Island Expressway in Queens struck the median, rolled over and came to a stop against a tree. A 26-year-old man in the front passenger seat was killed and the three other occupants of the car were hospitalized, New York City police said.
Arriving officers found the 2001 Nissan Xterra overturned on the right shoulder of the highway near Parsons Boulevard, police said.
The 31-year-old driver was taken to Booth Memorial Hospital, where he was in critical condition with head and body injuries, police said. The two rear-seat passengers were in stable condition at the same hospital after being treated for minor injuries, police said.
The identities of the men were not released.
Police said the vehicle struck the center median, went across three traffic lanes, struck the curb on the shoulder of the road and overturned.
About 90 minutes later in East Rockaway, a 23-year-old man was slashed in the neck outside a bar during a dispute with two men, Nassau County police said.
The victim, whose name was not released, was outside Mr. Beery's Bar at 451 Atlantic Ave. when the confrontation occurred, police said.
The men "became involved in an altercation," and one of them slashed the victim in the neck with an unknown object, police said. The injured man was treated at a hospital for lacerations to his neck, police said.
The nature of the dispute was not known. The two other men were described as about 20 years old, with thin builds and about 5 feet 8 inches or 5 feet 9 inches tall. The attacker was wearing a camouflage cap, police said.
On the Southern State Parkway near Route 110, two cars collided at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The occupants of a Chevrolet Camaro fled the scene and the four occupants of the Chevrolet Malibu were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, officials said.
