Single-vehicle Long Island Expressway crash kills 2, police say; LIE reopens

Two people were killed in a predawn single-vehicle crash on the eastbound Long Island Expressway Monday in North Hills, police said.

Nassau County police said the victims were the driver of a box truck and a passenger in that truck. Both were pronounced dead at the scene by a Nassau County police medic, police said. A Newsday photograph showed a crumpled and overturned box truck with a Boar's Head logo on its side.

Police said the truck was eastbound on the LIE near Exit 36 when it left the roadway and struck the overpass for Shelter Rock Road at 5:05 a.m.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. Police have not released the names of the deceased.

"We’re all very saddened by this tragic event and our hearts go out to their families," said Elizabeth Ward, a spokeswoman for Boar’s Head Brand. The truck does not belong to Boar’s Head but to an independent authorized local purveyor, Top Shelf Provisions, she said. The corporate address for the company is in Northport, according to state records. Nobody at that company could be reached.

The official state 511NY website showed the LIE was reopened by 2 p.m., after hours-long closures in which police diverted traffic onto the service road at Exit 34, New Hyde Park Road.

Police ask anyone who may have witnessed the crash to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or Homicide Squad detectives at 516-573-7788.

All calls will remain confidential.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com,nicholas.spangler@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”