Car crashes into Smithtown medical building, Suffolk cops say

A woman rammed her car through the wall of a medical office in Smithtown Thursday afternoon attempting to avoid another vehicle, Suffolk police said, slightly injuring herself, but no one inside the building.

“We heard a huge boom, a huge explosion is what it sounded like, and the sound of screams,” said Joe Amodio, of the 5:05 p.m. crash.

Amodio, a freelance writer for Newsday, said he had taken his mother to an appointment at Zwanger-Pesiri Radiology’s office at 80 Maple Ave. when the Chrysler PT Cruiser slammed into a waiting room in another area of the building.

After Amodio heard the crash, he ran to the waiting room.

The car, he said, had acted “like a battering ram,” leaving a clean break in the wall about the size of the opening in a one-car garage.

Amodio recalled seeing billowing dust and chairs strewn over the office floor, with about a dozen witnesses standing off to the side. “People were saying ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it,’ ” he said.

The 44-year-old woman driving the car had accelerated to avoid another vehicle on Maple Avenue., struck a tree and then the building, police said Thursday night. Smithtown Fire Department members took the driver, who was not identified, to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown. Police said they had not filed any charges in the crash, but were continuing to investigate.

A town fire marshal and building inspector were evaluating the building, police said.

Zwanger-Pesiri management could not be reached for comment Thursday night.