Driver in Southern Parkway crash dies
Westbound traffic on the Southern State Parkway is backed up due to an earlier accident. Credit: NYSDOT
A 90-year-old West Hempstead man whose car crashed into a tree on the right-hand shoulder of the eastbound Southern State Parkway Monday morning has died, State Police said.
State Police identified him as Eugene Bonacci.
Investigators were trying to determine whether Bonacci suffered a medical episode before the crash, police said.
The accident occurred near Exit 30, North Broadway, in North Massapequa, at about 7:20 a.m., police said. The state Department of Transportation reported two lanes were closed as a result of the accident and were reopened at 8:38 a.m.
Police said witnesses reported the car was traveling in the left-hand lane of the parkway when it drove onto the center median, then re-entered the parkway, crossing all three eastbound lanes before driving onto the right-hand shoulder and hitting the tree.
Bonacci was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the driver "wasn't traveling at a high rate of speed" before the crash.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident.
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