LI CRIME BRIEFS

MEDFORD/Driver killed in single-car crash

A 20-year-old Medford man was killed in a single-vehicle crash Wednesday, Suffolk County police said.

Peter Mungo was driving a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe westbound on Jamaica Avenue when the sport utility vehicle veered off the road, struck a mailbox and a tree about 12:45 p.m., police said.

Emergency Service Section officers extricated Mungo from the vehicle and he was transported by the Medford Volunteer Ambulance to Brookhaven Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash. The vehicle was impounded for a safety check. -- Nicole Fuller

WANTAGH/Lifeguards arrested for marijuana

Three lifeguards at Jones Beach State Park were arrested after being caught with marijuana in a parked vehicle there, State Park police said Wednesday.

The three were arrested Tuesday on several misdemeanor possession charges, police said.

The three men -- James Liegey, 41, of Queens; Michael Eberhardt, 37, of Long Beach; and Blaze C. Zellman, 24, of Carle Place -- were released on appearance tickets.

"All three lifeguards have been instructed not to return to work pending the outcome of an internal investigation," said parks department spokesman Randy Simons.

-- Gary Dymski

EAST QUOGUE/DWI charges after hit-and-run

A Seaford woman was arrested, charged with aggravated drunken driving and with leaving the scene of an accident after police said she plowed into an oncoming vehicle on Montauk Highway in East Quogue Sunday night, injuring five people before fleeing on foot, police said.

The hit-and-run crash occurred near East End Avenue at 9:19 p.m., Southampton Town police said. A search, including a dog from the New York State Police Canine Unit, found the driver, identified as Monica Hartman, 23, hiding in nearby woods.

Police said Hartman was driving on Montauk Highway when she crossed the double-yellow centerline and struck the side of an oncoming vehicle, injuring three people in her car and both occupants of the vehicle she hit. Hartman then fled on foot, police said.

All five of those injured were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Hartman was released on her own recognizance after arraignment.

-- John Valenti and Ellen Yan

LOCALE/Hed here and here

One suspect was arrested Tuesday -- and another is being sought -- in connection with a stabbing on a street in New Cassel late Friday, police said.

Kevin Vanegas, 17, of 264 Grand St., New Cassel, was arrested by Nassau County police Special Investigative Squad detectives Tuesday on Prospect Avenue on charges of first-degree assault and fourth-degree possession of a dangerous weapon.

At arraignment Wednesday, bail was set at $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond. His next court date is Friday. His attorney was not available for comment.

Police said Vanegas and a man who is still being sought approached an 18-year-old victim on Prospect Avenue just before midnight Friday -- Vanegas stabbing the man in the chest, his accomplice stabbing the man in the buttocks.

Police said the victim, whose identity was not released, suffered a large cut to the right side of his chest, as well as a cut to his posterior.

It was not clear if the victim and Vanegas are known to each other. Police said Wednesday that the investigation is continuing.

-- John Valenti and Ellen Yan

LOCALE/Hed here and here

An Orange County man was arrested and charged with a hit-and-run drunken driving accident after he sideswiped a marked Nassau County police car on the Long Island Expressway in Plainview late Tuesday -- and then fled, police said.

John McNamara, 21, of 6 Highview Ct. in upstate Highland Mills, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an incident and five other vehicle and traffic law infractions after a brief pursuit on the eastbound expressway.

The crash occurred near Exit 48 at 11:31 p.m., and police said McNamara was stopped and arrested by the officer he struck near Exit 49 in Melville.

Police said McNamara was speeding when he "drifted onto the shoulder portion of the roadway," sideswiped the marked patrol unit, which was stopped on the shoulder, and fled. Police did not release the identity of the highway patrol officer involved but said he was not injured.

At arraignment Wednesday, bail for McNamara was set at $1,500 cash or $3,000 bond. He was represented by Legal Aid and is due back in court Friday.

-- John Valenti