LIE head-on collision drivers still critical, beds apart

Two drivers who collided head-on as one of them drove the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway remained in critical condition Tuesday in a Flushing hospital's intensive care unit, authorities said.

John Rey, 64, of Greenlawn, was in a medically induced coma and surrounded by family and friends at the hospital Tuesday. Early Monday, Rey was driving his airport shuttle van eastbound on the LIE with no passengers when it was hit head-on by a 2002 Mercedes-Benz driven by Dave Richards, 30, of Hempstead, said a spokeswoman with the New York City Police Department.

Rey is in critical condition and was struggling to breathe - his lungs have contusions - and his rib cage, pelvis and right leg are broken, said his son-in-law, Chris Cassar.

"He's fighting for his life right now," Cassar said of his father-in-law, who is at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens.

Richards was taken to the same hospital in critical condition after the crash, police said. Charges against Richards include vehicular assault, drunken driving and reckless endangerment, police said, adding that he was under police guard Tuesday. An update on his condition was not available.

The crash happened at about 6 a.m. Monday between exits 24 and 25 on the eastbound LIE in Flushing, police said.

Rey, an airport shuttle driver for about two decades, was on his way to pick up passengers to be brought to the airport, Cassar said.

Before being sedated, Cassar said, Rey had his two daughters at his side. "He tapped his heart to indicate that he loved them," Cassar said.

A spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney's office said Richards drove for two miles the wrong way on the expressway before the collision and also had a 0.19 blood-alcohol content based on blood drawn after the crash. The legal blood-alcohol limit in New York is .08.