Woman charged in Ronkonkoma hit-and-run that seriously injured two boys, 9 and 12, Suffolk police say
Suffolk County police at the scene of a hit-and-run crash that seriously injured two boys on bicycles at Express Drive North near Old Nichols Road in Ronkonkoma Monday night. Credit: Christopher Sabella
A Hauppauge woman was arrested early Tuesday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident that seriously injured two boys riding their bicycles Monday night in Ronkonkoma, police said.
Suffolk County police said Major Case Unit detectives arrested Shannon Palmer, 31, at 5:45 a.m. outside her home on Roosevelt Boulevard.
She was charged with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident with serious physical injury and faces arraignment Tuesday at First District Court in Central Islip. It was not immediately clear if she was represented by counsel.
Police said Palmer was the driver of a white Ford Explorer that struck the two boys, aged 9 and 12, just after 7:30 p.m. as they rode their bicycles westbound on the shoulder of Express Drive North, the Long Island Expressway service road, about 500 feet east of Old Nichols Road. A third boy, 6 years old, was unharmed, police said.
Immediately after the crash police began an intensive search for the driver and vehicle, which was identified as a white Ford Explorer, likely between the 2002-2005 model years, with probable front-end and front passenger-side damage and missing a passenger-side headlight assembly.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday if police have located or recovered the vehicle.
According to police the 9-year-old, who is from North Amityville, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital in serious condition, police said. The 12-year-old, who is from Ronkonkoma, was transported to Stony Brook via ambulance. Police said he also suffered serious injuries.
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.”
