1 dead, 1 critical in separate alleged DWI crashes

A man was killed in Cedarhurst and a teen boy seriously injured in Riverhead in separate DWI crashes Saturday, police said.

In the Cedarhurst crash, the victim was a passenger in a car driven by a suspected drunken driver who is now under arrest on a manslaughter charge, Nassau County police said.

The crash happened at about 4:30 a.m. near 655 Rockaway Tpke. when a southbound Nissan driven by Gehlert Barrios, 20, hit a Ford van from behind, police said.

The passengers in Barrios' Nissan wound up in the hospital, including his rear-seat passenger, Anthony Morales, 30, of Far Rockaway, who sustained multiple trauma and died at 9:35 a.m., police said.

Charges against Barrios, of 315 Beach 31st St. in Far Rockaway, Queens, include second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and driving while intoxicated. He is to be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Police said Barrios' front-seat passenger, 21, whose name wasn't made public, sustained neck and back injuries and was brought to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, South Shore, in Far Rockaway, and the driver of the Ford, 50, also went to St. John's, for neck and back injuries.

In the other alleged DWI crash in Riverhead, a boy, 14, in a car driven by a suspected drunken driver was partially ejected after a crash.

Riverhead Town Police said the driver, Luke Shea, 19, of Riverhead, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and is jailed on $250,000 bail.

The crash happened near Osborne and Reeves avenues when Shea, driving a 1996 Subaru Impreza, lost control of the car, struck trees and damaged property, police said.

The injured boy was in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital's intensive care unit, police said. The occupants wearing seat belts - four of the five in the car - were unhurt.

The teen not wearing a seat belt, whose name wasn't made public, sustained "serious physical injuries to his upper extremities" and had to be flown to the hospital, Riverhead police said.